Lamba Battery

Lamba Battery is tucked away at Lado Sarai 18, and it’s a pretty busy little spot most afternoons. If you walk inside, the first thing you notice is the heavy smell of lead and that sharp tang of battery acid. It’s not a place where you want to wear your nice clothes because something will probably get ruined. We have stacks of black plastic casings everywhere, some new and some that people brought back because they finally died. My back usually hurts by five o'clock from lifting those heavy truck batteries onto the charging racks. The floor is concrete and has some stains that have been there for years. We don't have a fancy waiting room or anything like that. People just stand by the counter while we check their voltage or clean the terminals with a wire brush. Sometimes the power goes out in the neighborhood, and then we are just working by flashlight. Lado Sarai is always noisy with cars honking, so we have to talk loud to be heard over the street. It gets really hot in the summer because the chargers put out a lot of heat. We just keep a fan going and drink a lot of tea. It’s a basic shop for people who need to get their vehicles started again. We don't do much else besides that. It’s just batteries and cables all day long.