Nandini

Nandini is situated right in the middle of Laxmi Bazar in the Dhenkanal District. If you know the bazar, you know how loud and crowded it gets on market days. Our shop is just one of many along the row, with a heavy metal shutter that we pull up every morning. Inside, it smells a bit like old wood and whatever stock we’ve brought in that week. We don't have fancy air conditioning, so we rely on the breeze that comes through the front door, though mostly it’s just warm air. There’s a small wooden counter where we do all our business, and it’s got plenty of scratches from years of use. We see a lot of the same faces every day—people heading to work or doing their daily shopping in Dhenkanal. Sometimes we sit on the bench outside when things are slow and watch the cows or the rickshaws go by. It’s a slow pace of life in some ways, but the market always feels alive. We have a back room where we keep the extra crates and a small stove for making tea. The light inside is a bit dim because the buildings are so close together, so we keep a few bare bulbs burning all day. It’s a practical place, built for work and for serving the people who live nearby. We’ve been part of Laxmi Bazar for a while now and know most of the neighbors.