Padma Hardware

Our shop, Padma Hardware, is right in the thick of things at Thana Chatta Gali in the Adt Market. Being so close to Yamuna Kinara, we get a lot of that river breeze, though you can’t always feel it inside with all the shelves blocking the air. We are located right near Yamuna Kinara, so the dampness is just part of the air here. The market is always loud with people shouting and carts rattling on the stones. We have stacks of metal parts, hammers, and boxes of nails that reach up to the ceiling. It can be hard to find things if you aren't here every day, but I know exactly where the brass hinges are buried. Sometimes the dust from the street gets on everything, so we spend a lot of time wiping down the counters. It’s a tight space, and we often have to step over buckets just to get to the back. We see a lot of regulars who come in needing a specific size screw or a bit of wire to fix something at home. We don't really do much advertising; people just know we are here. The morning tea break is usually the only quiet time we get before the crowd starts coming through the Gali. It’s a lot of manual work, lifting heavy crates and counting out small pieces by hand, but it’s what we do. We just keep the doors open and wait for the next person who needs a tool to walk through that front door and ask for some help.