Virender General Store

Up here in New Karehda Colony, things stay pretty busy since we are near Hindon in Ghaziabad. The store is just a simple room filled with everything from floor to ceiling. If you walk in, you will notice the smell of open spice bags and maybe a bit of dampness when it rains. We have been at this spot for a while now. The metal shelves are packed with detergents, snacks, and those small toy packets that kids always point at. It gets noisy outside with the traffic, but inside it is mostly just the sound of the weighing scale beeping. We keep the registers in a small drawer that sticks sometimes. Usually, the morning is spent unloading crates of milk and bread that arrive early. There is not much space to move around once two or three people come inside at once. We don't have any air conditioning, just one old ceiling fan that wobbles a bit. The walls were painted green years ago and are fading now. Most of the work is just lifting heavy bags of sugar or flour and pouring them into smaller packets for people. It is a lot of standing around and waiting for the next person to walk through the door. Sometimes we talk to the other shopkeepers nearby while waiting. By the time evening rolls around, the light inside feels a bit yellow and dim, but we stay open until the last few folks finish their commute home.