Sindoor Dupatta Corner

I’ve been sitting here at Sindoor Dupatta Corner for quite a while now. It is tucked away in Gali Gurdware, right near Ashul Bangle in the Nabi Karim area of Paharganj. It’s a busy spot, always noisy with people walking by on Jhandewalan Road. We spend most of our mornings just sorting through the piles of cloth and matching the reds and golds that people like for their weddings. It gets dusty, and the lanes are narrow, so getting the big bags of fabric in is always a bit of a struggle. Sometimes the electricity goes out and we just sit outside talking to the neighbors while we wait. People come in looking for something specific, maybe a dupatta they saw in a movie or just something to match an old suit they have at home. We don’t do anything fancy here, just show what we have on the shelves. It’s a small space, so you have to step over things sometimes. My father used to say this part of Paharganj never sleeps, and he was right. There’s always someone looking for a bit of lace or a certain shade of pink even late in the evening. We keep the tea brewing in the back and just try to get through the day's work. It isn’t always organized, and things get messy when we are busy, but that is just how it is in this market. We just try to keep enough stock so nobody leaves empty-handed.