Yasmeen Hardware & Paints

The shop is tucked away on 13th Cross, just off the main Jaya Chamarajendra Road. It isn't a huge place, but we keep the shelves pretty packed with whatever we can fit. Most days start with opening up the shutters early and sweeping out the dust from the front step. You will find us here among the cans of paint and bins of screws. Sometimes the light inside isn't the brightest, so we have to use a torch to find the smaller plumbing bits in the back corners. We have been at this 17/2 spot for a while now. The neighborhood knows us as the place where you can get a single washer or a whole liter of enamel without much fuss. There is usually some tea cooling on a desk somewhere while we talk to people about their leaky taps or the color they want for their front door. It gets a bit crowded when a delivery truck pulls up on the 8th Main and we have to haul everything inside quickly. We don't have fancy displays or a computer system that works all the time. It is mostly just us writing things down in a ledger and helping folks find the right tool for whatever they are fixing at home. The paint mixer makes a lot of noise, but it gets the job done. If you walk past the 13th Cross intersection, you will likely see the stacks of buckets out front. It’s a busy life here.