Dhanalakshmi Hardware

The shop at No. 258/C in Addagutta Pragati Nagar is where we spend most of our time. It’s right across from the Western Hills Community Hall, and it is also opposite Western Hills, which is what the address says on our paperwork. The street is usually busy with people walking by or cars trying to find a place to turn around. Inside Dhanalakshmi Hardware, there are shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling, mostly filled with boxes of different sizes. Some of the labels are a bit faded because the sun hits that side of the building in the afternoon. We have a small desk near the front where we keep the ledger and a calculator that has a sticky button. The floor is concrete and it’s a bit cracked in the corner, but it doesn’t bother anyone. We don’t have fancy air conditioning, just a couple of ceiling fans that hum quite loudly when they are on the highest setting. Most days start around nine when we roll up the shutters. It takes a while to get the dust off the counters every morning. We get a lot of locals coming in for small things they need for their homes. Sometimes the tea man from the stall down the road brings us a glass of hot tea, and we sit for five minutes before getting back to the inventory. It’s a simple setup and it works for us.