Vasant South Indian Stores

We have been at Raja Ram Market for a few years now. Most people in Sector 35 know us for the big bags of rice and the specific spices we get shipped up from down south. It is a small store at shop number 8, but we pack it tight with as much as we can fit on the wooden racks. Every morning starts early with unpacking crates of fresh stuff that arrived overnight. The smell of curry leaves and roasted coffee is usually pretty strong by ten o'clock. I remember when we first opened, it was just a few shelves and a counter. Now, it is hard to walk through the narrow aisles without bumping into a sack of dal or a stack of stainless steel pots. Local families come here for their idli batter and various pickles that you can't find in the big supermarkets. We don't really do any big advertisements. Most customers are just neighbors who live nearby and walk over. My cousin helps me out behind the billing desk when things get crowded. We keep things pretty straightforward and honest. If someone needs a specific type of pappadam, we try our best to find it for them. It is good to see the same faces every week. Sometimes we run out of things because the truck got delayed on the highway, but that is just part of the daily business. We keep our ledgers by hand mostly because it feels more personal that way.