Sai Kirana Shop

You can find us at 6-92 on the Vijayawada Road in Kothapet. This part of the Coastal Andhra Region gets very humid, so we usually have the door wide open to catch any breeze. It’s a standard kirana shop where we stock things like soap, oil, and biscuits. The road outside is a main one, so there’s a lot of dust and noise from the traffic going towards the city. We have a small stool behind the counter where we sit when there are no customers. Most of the time, we are busy restacking the shelves or cleaning the glass jars. We use a simple handheld calculator to add up the totals. People often stop by just to ask for directions or to get a quick snack. The paint on the outside of the shop is peeling a bit because of the sun. We don't have any air conditioning, just a ceiling fan that spins pretty fast. It’s a modest way to make a living, but we’ve been doing it for years now. We know which floorboards creak when you walk on them. It’s just our daily routine here in Kothapet, nothing more and nothing less. We just keep the doors open and wait for the next person to walk in. It's a regular life for us on the side of the road.