Babu Kirana Store

You can find us over at Sodala on N S Road, right near Ajmer Road at number 1. It’s a small kirana store, the kind where we know most of our customers by their first names. We have everything from bags of lentils to bars of soap packed onto the shelves, and sometimes it’s hard to squeeze through the aisles when we get a new delivery in. I spend most of my day behind the counter, weighing things out and chatting with neighbors who stop in for their daily needs. It’s a busy corner of the city, and the sound of horns from Ajmer Road is always there in the background. We don’t have fancy lighting or computerized systems; we just use our ledgers and keep track of things the old-fashioned way. Some of the shelves have been here since the day we opened, and they show their age, but they hold the goods just fine. We open early in the morning before most people are even awake to make sure the milk and bread are ready. It’s a simple way to make a living, but it keeps us connected to everyone around here. Sometimes we run out of something and have to wait for the next truck, but people are usually patient. It’s just a local shop where we try to be helpful and keep the shelves stocked as best as we can.