Sri Manjunath Condiments

Our little shop, Sri Manjunath Condiments, sits over in the Mini Bazar area near Sardar Chowk. It’s quite close to Dharmaram College, so we get a lot of students coming in looking for snacks between their classes. The space at 42/1 is pretty small, honestly. We have bags of spices and containers of snacks stacked almost to the ceiling. It can feel a bit crowded when more than three people come in at once. My uncle opened this place a long time ago, and I took over when he retired to the village. The shelves are wooden and stay a bit dusty in the corners because the street outside kicks up a lot of dirt. We try to keep things organized, but on busy afternoons, it's hard to keep everything in its right place. I spend most of my day weighing out things and tying up plastic bags with those little rubber bands. We don't have any fancy signs or neon lights. Just the name painted above the door. Sometimes the electricity goes out in the block, and we have to use candles or just wait for it to come back on. It’s a simple life. I like the smell of the fried snacks and the different masalas that lingers on my clothes even after I go home at night. It’s just a neighborhood store trying to serve the people who walk past our door every day.