Daddus

Marathahalli is always crowded and the dust from the road never really settles. Our shop sits right in the middle of all that noise. We open up and the first thing is to get the stove going. The kitchen in the back isn't very large, so we have to be organized or we just bump into each other. There is a stack of stainless steel plates that we wash and dry by hand throughout the day. You can hear them clanking from the street. We put out the snacks in the glass cases so people walking by can see them. Sometimes the glass gets a bit foggy if it’s raining outside. We have a couple of benches where people sit, but mostly they just stand around and talk while they eat. The walls are painted a simple off-white and there is a calendar hanging near the cash box that is usually a month behind. We sell a lot of small items, so there is a lot of counting change and tearing off paper receipts. The ceiling fan wobbles a bit on high speed but it keeps the air moving when it gets stuffy inside. When the evening rush hits, the whole place feels very small. Everyone is in a hurry to get home or get to work. We just keep serving and clearing the tables as fast as we can until it’s time to pull the shutters down for the night.