Ram Steel & Fancy Store

Our shop is No 29 in the Shiva Sai Gayatri Nilayam building over in Miyapur. It’s a good spot because we are right opposite the Masjid on Police Station Road. We sell a bit of everything, from steel utensils to those fancy household items that people like to give as gifts during festivals. Ram Steel & Fancy Store isn't very big, so we have to use every inch of the walls to hang things up. You’ll see pots, pans, and plastic tubs stacked pretty high in every corner. It’s usually me or one of the boys behind the counter. We get a lot of people stopping in after they finish their prayers or when they’re heading to the police station for something. It can get quite dusty because the road is always busy with traffic, so we spend a lot of time wiping down the steel so it stays shiny for the customers. We don't have any fancy computer systems for the billing; it’s mostly just a pen and a pad of paper. People like to haggle a bit on the price, and we’re used to that. It’s just the way things are in Miyapur. Sometimes the power goes out and we have to use a torch to show people the goods in the back of the shop. It’s a simple life, just opening the shutters in the morning and seeing who comes by. We’ve got a lot of regulars who live nearby and stop in to say hello.