Pankaj Kirana Store

I started Pankaj Kirana Store in Ward No 10 of Molipura village. We are quite close to the Hindoli Police Station and the post office, which is handy because people are always passing by those places. It’s a basic village shop. We sell the things that families here need to get through the week. You’ll find things like cooking oil, sugar, tea leaves, and different kinds of pulses. The shop is part of my house, so I’m basically always here. If the front door is open, we are open. Sometimes I’m in the back having lunch and I’ll hear someone calling out, so I go out to serve them. It’s a quiet life for the most part. The shelves are made of old wood and have started to sag a bit under the weight of the heavy jars. We don't have fancy barcodes or scanners. I just know the prices by heart and use a simple notebook to keep track of who owes what. During the rainy season, the road outside gets quite muddy, and we spend a lot of time cleaning the floor. But the people in Molipura are good folks, and we’ve known most of them since they were children. We don't try to be anything we aren't. It’s just a place to buy your daily groceries and maybe catch up on the local news for a minute or two while the grain is being weighed.