Nakoda Misthan Bhandar

We started Nakoda Misthan Bhandar here on Rati Talai Road because the New Bus Stand is right there and people are always coming and going. Most days start early before the sun is even up properly because the milk delivery comes around five or five-thirty. We spend a lot of time just boiling things down and making sure the mawa is right for the day’s sweets. The shop isn’t anything fancy to look at, just some glass counters and a few benches where people sit while they wait for their buses. You can hear the conductors shouting destinations all day long from across the street. It gets quite dusty with all the traffic, so we are always wiping down the glass. The fans run all day but it still stays hot near the back where the large stoves are. We make the usual things like jalebis in the morning and different types of barfi that stay good for travel. A lot of people just want a quick snack before they head out on a long ride. Sometimes the crowd is too much and we stumble a bit trying to pack everything fast enough. We don't have a big staff, just a couple of us doing the frying and the cleaning. It’s a basic life, just keeping the trays full and making sure the floor is swept at the end of the night when the buses finally stop running as much.