Maharaja Bartan Bhandar

If you go into the middle of Bara Bazar, you will find Maharaja Bartan Bhandar tucked between the other shops. We have been selling all kinds of pots, pans, and kitchen tools for more years than I can count. The shop is absolutely packed from floor to ceiling with stainless steel and brass. You have to be careful walking through the aisles so you don’t knock anything over. It’s a very noisy place because of the metal clanging together and the crowds outside in the market. We don't have any fancy computers or digital systems here. We still write everything down in big ledger books with a regular pen. Some of our customers have been coming to us since my father was the one standing behind the counter. It gets very hot in the summer months, so we keep the big ceiling fans running at full speed all day. We don’t bother with fancy displays or lighting to make things look better than they are. It’s just a simple shop for people who need good kitchenware for their homes. Sometimes the dust gets on the plates, so we have to wipe them down before anyone takes them home. We open up early in the morning when the market starts to wake up. It’s a lot of hard work, especially moving the heavy crates around, but it’s what we know. We just stay busy and try to be helpful to whoever walks in. It is a long day but we are used to it.