Babu Rice Stores

Babu Rice Stores is right here on Mahatma Gandhi Road at number 285. We’ve been sitting in this same spot for a long time now. People come in mostly for their monthly bags of rice. We have those big jute sacks stacked up all along the walls, mostly different kinds like Sona Masuri or Ponni rice. It gets pretty dusty inside when we’re moving the bags around, especially in the mornings when the delivery trucks pull up. My hands are usually dry from handling the grain all day, but that’s just how it is. Sometimes the traffic on MG Road gets so loud you can’t even hear what the customer is asking for, so we have to shout a bit. We don't have fancy lights or anything like that. Just some old fans and wooden counters that have been here since I can remember. The floors are a bit uneven too. Most of the people who come here are neighbors who’ve been buying from us since their kids were small. We just weigh the rice on the scale, bag it up, and talk about the weather or how expensive things are getting these days. It’s a simple way to spend the day. I open the shutters early and stay until the sun goes down. There’s always some sweeping to do because the rice husks get everywhere. It’s just us doing the daily work here at the shop.