Gill Kitchenware

If you walk down Tonk Road in Pratap Nagar, you will find Gill Kitchenware tucked in among the other shops. We have been here for a while, selling everything from pressure cookers to small spoons. The shop is usually a bit of a squeeze because we try to fit so many boxes on the shelves. Sometimes things get a bit dusty from the traffic outside on the main road, so we spend the first hour of the day just wiping down the stainless steel so it looks decent. It is mostly local families from the Pratap Nagar area who come in when their old pans wear out or when they are setting up a new kitchen for a wedding. We don't have a lot of space, so we often have to climb up ladders to get the big stock from the top racks. The noise from the street is constant, but you get used to it after a few years. We sit on small stools behind the counter and chat with the neighbors when it is slow. It’s a simple way to earn a living, just helping people find the right size of pot or a replacement lid for their mixer. Every evening we pack up the displays from the sidewalk and lock the heavy gate, hoping for a bit of rain to cool the Tonk Road asphalt before we come back the next morning.