Gopal General Store

This part of Howrah is much quieter than the main city areas. My shop, Gopal General Store, is located at Kamarshala More in Jhinkra. It is just a simple room with some wooden shelves nailed to the walls. I have been here for a long time, and I have seen the kids who used to buy candy from me grow up and bring their own children now. We keep all the basic household things. You can find pulses, bags of salt, and spices for fish curry. The road outside is called Jhinkra Road and it gets a bit muddy when the rains come. I usually have to put some bricks down so people can walk into the shop without getting their feet wet. I don't have a computer or anything like that for billing. I just use a pen and a piece of paper. It is easier for me that way. My shop is not very large, so I have to stack the crates of soda outside under the small tin roof. I spend my morning talking to the milkman and the bread delivery guy. By midday, it gets very humid, and I just sit under the fan. People in the village know me as Gopal Kaku. I don't try to sell people things they don't need. They just come in, ask for their groceries, and we talk about the harvest or the local temple festival. It is a peaceful way to live.