The Super General Stores

Noore Burhan Society is a quiet enough place until the school nearby lets out. Our shop at A23-1/2 in Juhapura stays pretty busy with the local families. We’ve been sitting on this corner of Sarkhej Road for quite some time now. The Super General Stores sounds like it might be a huge place, but it’s just a standard shop with a lot of stuff crammed onto the walls. We spend our mornings checking the eggs and making sure the bread is fresh. Ahmedabad gets so hot in the summer that we mostly just stay behind the counter and hope the ceiling fan doesn't stop. We don’t have fancy displays. Most things are just in the boxes they arrived in because it’s easier to reach that way. People come in for a single pen or a whole month’s worth of rice. We treat them the same regardless. Sometimes the neighbors stop by just to talk about the local news or the price of onions. We have a lot of different brands of detergent because everyone has a favorite. The counter is scratched up from years of sliding coins and bags across it. It’s not a corporate setup with uniforms. We just wear what we have and get to work. When the sun goes down, we pull the shutter halfway and start counting what’s left for tomorrow. It’s just a regular life here.