Kisan Beej Bhandar

This shop is right in Dhariawad and we deal mostly with seeds and things farmers need for their fields. When you walk in, you can smell the earth and the bags of fertilizer stacked near the entrance. The floor is made of rough concrete because it has to handle heavy sacks being dragged across it every day. Farmers come in from the nearby villages, often early in the morning before they head out to their land. They ask about the different types of wheat or corn seeds and which ones might grow better this year depending on the rain. We have a small wooden counter where we weigh things out and count the money. It gets very busy just before the monsoon starts because everyone is in a hurry to get their planting done. There are some posters on the walls showing different crops, but they are a bit faded now from the sun. We keep the seeds in big plastic bins or thick paper bags to keep the moisture out. Sometimes the cats from the street wander in looking for mice around the grain sacks. I usually keep a notebook to write down what people owe or what we need to order next. The street outside is dusty and often has tractors parked along it. It’s a quiet place most of the year, but the atmosphere changes when harvest time gets close. We just try to keep enough stock so that no one goes home empty-handed when they really need to plant.