Jai Jinender General Store

Jai Jinender General Store is right in the middle of Sadar Bazar in Pipar City. Being in Jodhpur district, the summers are long, and the market is busiest in the early mornings and late evenings. Our shop is a place where you can get anything from a needle to a bag of sugar. We try to keep a bit of everything because it’s a long way to the bigger cities if someone forgets an item. The shelves are made of iron and we’ve painted them a few times to stop the rust. There is a small stool behind the counter where I sit when there aren't many people around. I spend most of my time checking the dates on the milk and bread packets. The kids from the nearby school often stop by for sweets or pencils in the afternoon. It gets quite noisy then. We don’t have any fancy computer billing, we just write everything down in a thick register. It’s a slow process sometimes, but nobody seems to mind the wait. We use brown paper bags for most things instead of plastic. It’s just how we’ve always done it. The shop has a specific smell of mixed spices and soap that I’ve grown used to over the years. It feels like home to me, and I think the regulars feel the same way when they visit us.