Ganesh Kirana (Old) General Stores

The "Old" in our name is there for a reason. We have been here in Nilkamal Society on Sola Road for a very long time. Back when we started, this part of Ahmedabad felt much smaller. Now, with Sarvodaynagar-I right across from us, there is always someone passing by. The shop is filled with the smell of loose spices and heavy sacks of flour. We still weigh things out on the old scales sometimes, though we have the digital one now too. The wooden drawers are a bit stuck from the humidity, and the walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint, but they have stayed this way for years. My father used to run this place, and I just kept going with it. We have registers full of names of people who have been buying their monthly rations from us since they were children. It gets frantic in the evenings when everyone realizes they forgot something for dinner. I usually have my nephew helping out on the weekends because it is too much for one person to grab bags from the top shelves and handle the cash at the same time. We don't have any fancy displays or bright lights. It is just a dusty, crowded grocery store where we know exactly where every single jar of pickles is kept. It’s hard work on the legs, standing all day, but it is what we do.