Porwal Namkeen & Misthan Bhandar

Our shop is located at S/48 in the Bangali Colony area of Mansarovar, specifically near Chhawani. Porwal Namkeen & Misthan Bhandar has been a part of this street for quite a while. We start early when the air is still a bit cool. You can hear the big pans of oil heating up for the namkeen. It’s a lot of manual work, frying and mixing the spices. My clothes usually smell like fried snacks by the time I go home. We have glass counters that we wipe down a hundred times a day. They get greasy pretty fast. We sell all kinds of sweets too, whatever people are asking for that month. It’s not a fancy place with air conditioning and soft music. We have a couple of fans that rattle a bit. The neighbors come in for their morning snacks or to pick up something for their tea. We talk about the local news and the weather while we weigh the bags. Sometimes we run out of the popular items by four in the afternoon. It’s just how it goes when you make things fresh. We don't have a big team, just family and a couple of helpers. It gets hot near the stoves, but we are used to it by now. We just want to keep the shelves full and the customers fed. It’s a simple, honest way to spend the day.