Vijay Mangal

Our shop sits right in the middle of Sadar Bajar over in Delhi Cantonment. It’s been at this 14277 spot for more years than I can really count. My father started things here, and now I mostly handle the day-to-day work. It is a busy area with a lot of noise from the street, but we like it that way. Mostly we deal with local people who walk in from the neighborhood. Some days are very quiet and we just sit and drink tea while waiting for the next person to come through the door. The shelves are getting a bit old and the paint is peeling in the corners, but it works for what we need. We don’t have fancy displays or anything like that. People know where we are. Usually, the morning starts around nine when we roll up the shutters. The traffic around here can be a real headache, especially on the weekends when everyone is out shopping. We try to keep things simple. If someone needs something and we have it, we sell it to them. If we don’t have it, we tell them where else to look. That is just how it goes in a place like this. Sometimes the light bulbs flicker and we have to fix the wiring again. It’s just an ordinary place where we spend our time working and talking to the regulars who stop by to say hello. It isn't perfect, but it is our livelihood.