Hms Sultan Chicken Centre

I get here early to open up the shop in Rabrindranath Tagore Nagar. It's usually still a bit dark out and the air is cool. Being at number 1 makes us easy to find, I guess. My hands are almost always cold from handling the ice we use to keep everything fresh. We get the birds delivered and then the real work starts with the prep. It’s a lot of manual labor that people don't really think about when they come in to buy a kilo for dinner. I’ve been running Hms Sultan Chicken Centre for a while now. The floor gets quite slippery with all the washing we have to do, so I’m always telling the boys to be careful. Sometimes the power goes out in the afternoon and we have to scramble to keep things cold. It’s just a small team of us here. We know most of the people who live on this street by their first names. They stop by for their Sunday meals or when they have guests over. I try to keep the place as clean as I can. It’s not a fancy corporate store, just a regular local shop. Some days the rain keeps everyone inside and it gets really quiet. Then suddenly the sun comes out and everyone wants chicken at once. I don’t mind the noise and the busyness. You get used to the smells and the routine after a few years. My knives need sharpening every single day. We just do the work. It’s a decent life here.