Anand Kirana & Company

If you head behind the railway station in Salagundi, on the Bank Main Road, you’ll see our shop. We run a kirana store, so we have a bit of everything that a household might need. From sacks of rice and lentils to smaller items like soap and matches. The shop is usually crowded because we try to fit as much as possible on the shelves. It’s a bit of a maze inside, but I know exactly where the spices are and where the cleaning supplies are kept. Since we are near the station, we get a lot of people coming in right after they get off the train. It’s a noisy spot with the trains passing by, but we’ve gotten used to that sound. We start very early in the morning to get the fresh stock in. There’s always someone coming in for a last-minute item they forgot for their dinner. We don't use any fancy scanners; we just know the prices and do the math in our heads. The floor is concrete and the walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint, but it’s a shop that works. We’ve known most of our customers for years. Their kids grow up and then they start coming in to buy things for their own homes. It’s that kind of place. We stay open late most nights because that’s when people are heading home from work. It is a busy life.