Shri Jagannath Gajak Bhandar

Our shop is tucked away in Ghee Walon Ka Rasta, at number 12-A, right in the heart of Johari Bazar. If you know this part of Jaipur, you know how crowded it gets with all the shoppers and the rickshaws. We’ve been at this spot for years, and the walls are darkened from all the smoke and cooking over the decades. Every morning, we start by roasting the sesame seeds in big batches. The sound of the heavy wooden mallets hitting the gajak is like a drumbeat that goes on all day. It’s physical work and your back starts to ache after a few hours. We don’t have a fancy storefront with glass displays, just the simple counters where we stack the fresh sweets. People come in from the bazaar, sometimes just to escape the sun for a minute while they buy a box. The air inside is thick with the smell of ghee and sugar. We spend a lot of time just wrapping pieces in plastic so they stay crunchy. Sometimes the electricity cuts out and we have to work by candlelight in the back. It’s a bit messy and the floor is always covered in bits of seeds. We just keep our heads down and get the work done. It's an old way of doing things, but it's the only way we know how to work here.