Pooja Restaurant & Sweet House

Down here on Natt Road in Talwandi Sabo, things move a bit slower than in the main city of Bhatinda, but we stay busy enough. Pooja Restaurant & Sweet House is right across from Dr Harbhajan Hospital, so we get a lot of people who are visiting family there or just coming in for a tea while they wait. The mornings are the best part, when the air is still a bit cool and we start making the fresh sweets. The smell of sugar and ghee fills the whole shop, and it’s actually quite nice before the heat of the day kicks in. We’ve got a few tables in the back, but most people just stand at the counter for a quick snack. The road outside can be quite loud with the buses and tractors going past, and the dust sometimes settles on the front glass, so we are always wiping things down. It’s not a fancy place with menus in leather covers; we usually just tell people what we’ve made fresh that day. I’ve lived in this area most of my life, and running this place in Talwandi Sabo feels right. We have our regulars who come for their daily fix of something sweet, and we know most of them by name. It’s just us, some flour, some sugar, and a lot of hard work to keep the kitchen running. We don't have any big plans, just to keep the doors open and the food ready for whoever stops by.