Sachdeva Store

Majnu Ka Tila is a busy place and Sachdeva Store has been part of the noise for years. Our shop at Civil Line C-29 is usually packed with bags of rice, pulses, and all those little things people forget to buy until they're cooking dinner. I spend most of my morning checking what ran out yesterday and calling the suppliers. It's a small space, so we have to stack things high up to the ceiling. You have to be careful walking through the aisles or you'll knock something over. We know most of the people who come in by their first names. They come for their daily milk or maybe just a packet of biscuits. It’s not a supermarket, just a regular corner store where we do our best to keep the shelves full. Sometimes the electricity goes out and we have to work by candlelight for a bit. It gets hot in the summer, especially with the fridge running all day to keep the drinks cold. Dealing with change is the hardest part, everyone always seems to be out of five-rupee coins. We don't do anything special, just open the shutters early and close them late. It’s a simple life running a shop in this part of town. We just focus on keeping the basic stuff in stock so nobody leaves empty-handed when they need sugar or salt. Often we end up chatting with the neighbors for longer than we intended.