Ashoka General Store

If you’re around Raja Park, you’ve probably passed by us at number 43, right at Sardar Bhag Singh Ka Choraha. It’s a busy intersection, so there’s always noise from the traffic and people shouting. We are a typical general store. We’ve got everything from bags of lentils and rice to soap and snacks. The shelves are packed pretty tight, and sometimes we have to move three things just to reach the one at the back. We open up early in the morning when the milk arrives and don’t really close until late at night. It’s a lot of hours, but we get to talk to everyone in the colony. We know which neighbor likes a specific brand of tea and who is going to come in for eggs at the last minute. We don't have a computer system that tracks everything perfectly; we mostly rely on what we see on the shelves and our own notebooks. Sometimes the delivery truck is late and we have to tell people we’re out of something for a day. It’s just how it goes. There’s no fancy marketing here, just a counter where we chat with customers while we bag their groceries. It’s a simple life, keeping the neighborhood stocked with their daily needs. We’ve been here at the crossroads for a while and we’ve seen the area change, but the store stays pretty much the same day after day.