Sukhdev Karyana Store

Running a karyana store in Santokhpura is never quiet. We are right on the Hosiarpur Road, so there is always the sound of traffic passing by. Cars, trucks, and motorbikes never seem to stop. I spend most of my day behind the counter, weighing out pulses or grabbing items from the top shelves. The store is packed from floor to ceiling with all sorts of things like soap, flour, and spices. It is a bit cramped and sometimes customers have to wait outside if there are too many people in at once. We don't have any fancy lighting, just a few tube lights that flicker sometimes. My family helps out when it gets busy in the evenings after people get off work. We know most of our customers by their names because they live just a few streets away. Sometimes they stay to chat about the news or the weather while I pack their bags. The floor is made of old tiles that have faded over time. We don't use a computer for the bills. I just write everything down in a notebook and use a small calculator. It works fine for us. Sometimes we run out of something and I have to call the supplier to bring more the next morning. It is a simple life of selling daily goods to the neighbors and making sure the shelves are never empty for too long.