Jaiswal Traders

We are at 2, Kalicharan Das Lane. If you are in Salkia, you might know how narrow some of these lanes are. Jaiswal Traders is in a spot that’s a bit hard to find if you aren't looking for it. It’s in the Howrah district, and the whole neighborhood is packed with houses and small businesses. Our space is on the ground floor, which makes it easier to move stuff in and out, but the street is so thin that we have to be careful when a cart or a bike passes by. Inside, it’s mostly just shelves and stacks of items. We don't have air conditioning, so we just use a couple of old ceiling fans that creak a lot. It gets pretty humid here, especially during the monsoon, and we have to make sure nothing gets damp. Most of our day is spent talking to people who come by or checking the stock we have left. It’s not a very fancy operation. We write most of our notes on scraps of paper or in a big bound book. My cousin helps out when things get busy, but usually, it’s just a couple of us. We have been in Salkia for a long time, so we know most of the people on Kalicharan Das Lane. It’s a noisy, crowded place to work, but it’s home for us. We just keep doing what we do every day without much fuss.