Dipak Store

If you walk down Station Road in Dhanbad, you will find Dipak Store in the Purani Bazar area. It is a very convenient spot because it is so close to the railway station. We get a lot of people who are just passing through the city, wanting a bottle of water or some biscuits for their long train journey. Then we have our regular customers who live in the narrow lanes nearby and come to us for their monthly rations. The shop is quite small and the ceiling is a bit low, so it can feel crowded when three or four people are inside at the same time. We keep the heavy rice bags stacked near the entrance to make them easier to move. Dhanbad can get very hot and dusty because of all the coal trucks moving around, so we spend a lot of our time cleaning the glass jars on the counter. We don't have any hired staff, it is just a family-run business. My uncle sits at the cash box most of the time while I handle the customers. We don't use a computer for billing, we just write the totals on the back of old cardboard boxes or small slips of paper. It has been this way for as long as I can remember. The street outside is always full of rickshaws and people shouting. It is loud, but we are very used to the noise by now.