Shantiniketan Chasmawala

Our shop, Shantiniketan Chasmawala, is located at No. 641/1 right near Balahanuman on Gandhi Road. It’s a very old part of the city and it stays crowded from morning till night. We have been here a long time. The shop isn't very big, so we have to use the walls for all our displays. You’ll see frames and cases everywhere you look. Sometimes the street noise is so loud we have to shout a bit to be heard. We keep a small stool for customers to sit on while they wait. It’s not a fancy air-conditioned mall store. It’s a local place where people know our faces. We have a small mirror that’s slightly tilted. Every morning we sweep the front step because of the dust from Gandhi Road. We deal with all sorts of people, from students to grandfathers. Sometimes the tea seller comes by and we take a quick break. It’s a simple way to run a business. We don’t use any complicated systems, just our ledgers and a lot of patience. The glass cases are a bit heavy to move when we need to clean behind them, so we usually wait for a slow afternoon to do it. There’s a cat that sits on the step next door every afternoon. It’s these small details of Gandhi Road that make the day interesting. We aren't a big chain, just a local shop trying to do right by the people who walk in and get their glasses sorted.