Ashok Enterprises

Our place is at 439 Station Road in Badami. It is an old building, but it works for what we do. Being so close to the station means there is always a lot of movement. You can hear the trains if you stop to listen, but after being here in Bagalkot for so long, we don't really notice it anymore. We keep the doors open from early morning until the sun goes down. Most of what we have is basic hardware and supplies that people in town need for their daily repairs. It is not a huge place, so things are stacked pretty high on the shelves. Sometimes you have to move three things just to get to the one you actually need. We know most of the people who walk in by their first names. They come in for a handful of nails or maybe a new lock for a gate. The floor is just plain stone and it has some chips in it from dropping heavy crates over the years. We haven't bothered fixing it because it doesn't change how things run. In the summer, the heat in Badami gets really intense, so we spend a lot of time sitting near the back where it is a bit cooler. We don't use computers much; most of our notes are kept in paper ledgers on the main counter. It is just a straightforward local shop where we keep the items people ask for most often. The walls are painted a dull color that has faded.