Radhika

I’ve been running Radhika here at Shiw Market for a while now. It’s at No. 18 on S. S. Road, which most people around here know pretty well. It’s not a huge place, just a regular shop where we try to keep things moving. The market gets quite crowded in the afternoons, especially with the bikes parked everywhere on the curb. Sometimes it's a bit of a headache to get stuff delivered because of the narrow lanes and the traffic. We start early most days, getting the shutters up and cleaning the dust off the counters before the first customer shows up. It's just me and a couple of guys helping out with the heavy lifting. We don’t have fancy signs or anything like that. Just the name above the door. People stop by when they’re in the area for other things. S. S. Road is always noisy, you can hear the horns and the shouting all day long. We just sit here, do the work, and talk to whoever walks in. It isn't anything special, but it's what we do to earn a living. My uncle used to say that a business is just about showing up every day, so that's what I do. We have some regular customers from the neighborhood who’ve been coming for years. They know where we are, right there at No. 18. Sometimes we share a tea if it’s a quiet morning. It is a simple life but we are used to it and wouldn't know what else to do.