Fancy Bottle Store

Fancy Bottle Store is located at 2330, Katra Alam Beg, which is deep inside Ballimaran in Chandni Chowk. If you know the area, you know how narrow the lanes are. It is always crowded with people, rickshaws, and porters carrying heavy loads on their heads. Our shop is packed from floor to ceiling with all kinds of glass and plastic bottles. There is barely enough room for two people to pass each other in the aisles. We have been in this part of Chandni Chowk for a long time. The building is old, with high ceilings and walls that have seen many years. It stays a bit cooler inside than out on the street, which is a relief in the summer months. We spend the day climbing ladders to reach the top shelves and wrapping bottles in old newspaper so they don’t break. It’s a lot of manual work and our hands are usually covered in dust. Ballimaran has a soul of its own, and we are just one small part of it. Customers come in looking for specific sizes or shapes, and we usually know exactly which pile to dig through to find them. There isn't any fancy lighting or air conditioning here. It’s just us, the bottles, and the constant noise of the market outside. We drink a lot of tea from the stall next door and keep the business moving one bottle at a time.