Prashant Akar

I’ve got a shop over at the Adarsh Nagar Shopping Center, shop number 36. It’s a lively place to be. There’s always music playing from one of the nearby stores or people haggling over prices in the aisles. My shop isn’t the biggest one there, but I make do with the space I have. I sell a bit of everything that people in the neighborhood might need. The shelves are usually packed tight, and sometimes I have to move three things just to find one. It’s a bit messy, but I know where everything is. I spend a lot of time talking to the other shop owners. We all know each other and keep an eye on things. In the afternoons, it gets quite crowded with shoppers, so I stay on my feet most of the time. The shopping center has its own rhythm. I open up the shutters around ten and don't close until the lights in the main hall start to dim. It’s hard work, and my back usually aches by the end of the day. I don't have a website or anything like that. People just know me and come by when they need something. It’s a simple way of doing business that’s worked for me for a long time now. I just try to keep the stock fresh and the customers happy enough to come back next week for their supplies.