Samudralal Shiv Kumar & Co.

Our place is at 15-6-8 in Siddiamber Bazar, right in the middle of all the chaos. If you have ever been to the bazar, you know how it is—motorbikes everywhere, people shouting, and the smell of all kinds of goods in the air. We have been here as Samudralal Shiv Kumar & Co. for a long time. The shop has high ceilings and old shelves that go all the way up to the top. We use long ladders to reach the stuff we haven't moved in months. It is a family business, and my father still comes in every morning to sit at the main desk. He knows the names of all the regular customers who have been coming here for twenty years. We don't use computers for everything; we still have some of those big red ledger books where we write things down by hand. It feels more real that way. The floor is made of old stone that has been polished smooth by all the feet walking over it. We don't do any big marketing or anything. The business just keeps going because we have been here so long that people just know to come to us. It is a bit dusty and it gets very hot in the summer, but we wouldn't want to be anywhere else. We like the noise and the energy that the market brings every day.