Deepak Azad

I've been here in Hapur for quite some time now, right around the Ramlila Maidan in Lajjapuri. It gets really busy during the festival times and you can hear the crowds from our spot, but that's just how it is. My name is Deepak Azad and I mostly just handle things from here day to day. It’s a decent area, though the roads can get a bit dusty when the wind picks up across the ground. I usually start my mornings early before the heat gets too bad. People around here know me just as someone who’s always been in the neighborhood. We don’t have any fancy signs or big glass windows, just a regular place where work gets done. Sometimes the electricity goes off for a bit in the afternoons, so we just sit outside and talk to the neighbors until it comes back on. It’s not a big corporate setup or anything like that. It is just me and a couple of others trying to keep things moving. We’ve seen the area change a lot over the years, with new shops opening up and others closing down, but we stay put. If you walk past the Maidan, you’ll probably see us. It’s nothing special to look at, just a practical space where we spend most of our hours. I like being close to home and knowing the people who walk by every day.