Satyanarayan Bhander

The area around Station Road in Howrah is always moving. There is a constant noise of trains and people rushing to catch their rides. Our shop, Satyanarayan Bhander, sits right in the middle of all that chaos. It has been our spot for quite a while now. We deal mostly in bulk groceries and the kinds of things every kitchen needs. The floors are a bit uneven, and the wooden shelves have seen better days, but they hold everything we need them to. In the mornings, the smell of fresh sacks of rice and lentils is quite strong. We spend a lot of time weighing out goods for customers who want specific amounts. It is not like the fancy malls; here, you can buy exactly what you need. The humidity in West Bengal can make things feel heavy, so we keep the doors wide open for whatever breeze comes through from the road. Sometimes the rain pours down so hard we have to move everything back from the entrance. It is just me and a couple of helpers managing the sacks and the ledger book. We don't use computers much; it's all hand-written notes and old-fashioned work. People come to us because they know we are always here, right on the way to the station, ready to bag up their groceries. It is a busy, noisy life, but we have gotten used to the pace of the road.