Ghanshyamdas Righjumal General Store

Ghanshyamdas Righjumal General Store is our family place located on Dhola Bhatta Main Diggi Bazar Road. It has been here for a long time, and not much has changed over the years. The shop is usually a bit dusty because of all the traffic on the main road outside. We have scooters and rickshaws honking all day long. I start my day by pulling up the heavy iron shutters around eight in the morning. Inside, it smells like a mix of spices and laundry soap. I spend a lot of time moving sacks of flour and sugar around to make space for new stock. The wooden counter is worn down in the middle from where people lean while they wait for their change. We keep the smaller items like matches and gum right at the front. There are shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling, and I often have to use an old plastic stool to reach the top ones. Sometimes the lightbulbs flicker, but I haven't found the time to fix the wiring yet. We don't have a computer or a fancy billing system. I just use a pen and a small notebook to keep track of what people owe me. Most of our customers are the same neighbors we’ve known for twenty years. They come in to talk about the weather or the price of onions. It’s just a simple, local store where we try to keep enough stock so people don’t have to go all the way into the city center.