Arora Pattall Store

Arora Pattall Store is right in the heart of Paharganj, near Tooti Chowk on Ram Dwara Road. Our address is 4944-6. This is one of the busiest parts of the city, and it never really gets quiet, even late at night. We sell pattals, which are the traditional plates made from leaves, and other similar items for eating. The store is packed from the floor all the way to the ceiling with stacks of these plates. It’s a very old-fashioned kind of business. We don’t use computers much; most of our accounts are still kept in thick paper registers with a pen. When it’s wedding season, the shop gets incredibly crowded and we are constantly moving heavy bundles of plates in and out of the door. The street outside is full of rickshaws and people walking. Sometimes the dust from the road is quite bad, so we cover the stacks with large plastic sheets. My father used to run this place before me, and not much has changed since those days. We have the same wooden counter and the same old fan that wobbles a bit when it's on high speed. It’s a humble trade. We aren't trying to change the world, just providing what people need for their family functions and street food stalls. It’s a lot of manual work, lifting and carrying, but it keeps us busy.