Kedar Nath Gupta

It’s usually pretty quiet when we first get to Tilak Nagar in the morning. Gyan Marg doesn’t really wake up until about ten, so we have time to sweep out the front of Kedar Nath Gupta before the dust from the passing rickshaws starts settling again. Most days, the tea guy from the corner brings over three cups without us even asking. He knows the routine. We’ve been at this spot for a while now, and you get used to the rhythm of the street. Sometimes the light inside is a bit dim because the overhead bulb flickers, but we haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet. It doesn't bother us much. We just keep the ledger on the wooden desk and deal with whoever walks through the door. Usually, it's neighbors or people who have been coming here for years. The walls could use a fresh coat of paint, honestly. You can see the marks where the old calendars used to hang. We don’t have fancy chairs or anything, just the old wooden ones that creak a bit when you sit down. It’s a simple setup here on Gyan Marg. We spend a lot of time just organizing the stock and making sure things are where they belong. It gets hot in the afternoons, so we keep the fan on full speed, which makes a lot of noise. But it’s home for us, and we know everyone around here by name.