Shabnam Book Stall

Running Shabnam Book Stall near the bus station is always an interesting experience. You get all sorts of people walking by every single hour. Since we are right there on the Main Road, it stays pretty loud with the buses pulling in and out. The shelves are packed with everything from school books to old magazines that have seen better days. We don't have a lot of space, so things are stacked pretty high. Sometimes I have to use a ladder just to find something a customer asked for three days ago. It’s a small place, but it keeps me busy. I usually open up early in the morning when the first commuters start arriving. The air is always full of diesel smoke from the station, but you get used to it after a few years. We don't do any big advertising. People just see the books as they walk to catch their bus. I’ve seen the same faces for years, people who stop for a newspaper every morning without saying much more than a hello. It’s not a quiet library type of place. It’s a bit chaotic and cramped. But it works for us. We just try to keep enough stock so that there's always something to read. The weather affects us a lot, especially when the monsoon hits and we have to cover everything in plastic sheets to keep the pages dry. It can be a real mess when it pours, but we manage. We’ve been here a long time now.