Allawadhi Trading Co.

Our shop is tucked into Saini Mohalla, right on the Chandigarh Road. If you know the area, you probably know Sawan Palace; we are just opposite that, and the ICICI Bank is quite close too. It’s a noisy spot with all the traffic going by towards Chandigarh, but it’s good for business. We do a lot of trading here, which basically means we spend our time counting stock and talking to suppliers. The back room is usually full of crates and boxes that need to be sorted. It’s just a few of us working here. We start early in the morning, unlocking the shutters and sweeping the front. You get to know the regulars after a while, the guys who drop by every week. We aren't doing anything groundbreaking, just moving goods from one place to another and making sure the accounts are right at the end of the day. The fan in the office makes a bit of a clicking sound that we’ve all gotten used to. Sometimes we have to stay late to finish up the inventory, especially when a big shipment arrives unexpectedly. It gets hot in the summer, but we keep the water cooler filled. We spend our afternoons sitting near the entrance where there is a bit of a breeze. We’ve been at this location for a good bit now and everyone in the Mohalla knows us. We just keep plugging away at it, week after week, without making a big fuss about the work or how many boxes we move.