Thapar Traders

Thapar Traders is tucked away at Shop No. 3, 101, Chatta Bhawani Shankar in Fatehpuri. If you know this part of Delhi, you know how crowded it gets. The lanes are narrow and there’s always someone pushing a cart past the door. Our shop is quite small, but we pack a lot of stuff into it. We’ve been here for a long time, and the walls show it. There are stains and marks from years of moving boxes around. We deal in various goods, mostly trading whatever is in season or what people are asking for. It’s a lot of haggling and talking. You have to be loud to be heard over the noise of the market. We don't have a computer for the accounts; we still use the old ledgers mostly. It’s just easier for us that way. The fans on the ceiling hum all day but they don't do much against the heat in July. We keep a stash of cold water in a small fridge in the corner. People stop by just to say hello sometimes because we’ve been here so long. It’s not a fancy life, but it’s our life. We open the shutters at nine and don't close until the sun is well down. The market is always moving, and we move with it. We try to keep the stock fresh but sometimes things move slower than we expect. That's just the business.