Raja Store

Raja Store is on 1st Street in Vinayagapuram, which is part of the Arumbakkam area in Chennai. I have been here for many years. It is a small shop in a residential street, so most of the customers are people who live right next door. We keep the usual things like rice, oil, biscuits, and some household plastic items. The humidity in Chennai is no joke, so I have to be careful about how I store things so they do not get ruined. I open up around seven in the morning. That is when people want their milk and curd. The street can get a bit noisy with the bikes passing by. I handle everything myself, from cleaning the floor to checking the boxes that come in. It is a lot of lifting. Sometimes the kids from the school nearby come in for candy or notebooks. I do not have a big sign or anything fancy, just the name Raja Store. If I do not have something you need, I can usually get it by the next day if I am going to the wholesaler. I like the neighborhood and the people are generally friendly. We do not use any computers here, just a notebook to keep track of things. It is old fashioned but it works for me. I just want to keep the shop going as long as I can.