Sharma Beej Bhandar

Our shop, Sharma Beej Bhandar, is located on Devi Road. We are actually on the first floor at number 6 A, so you have to walk up a short flight of concrete stairs to get to us. Downstairs there are other shops selling all sorts of things, but once you get up to our level, the smell changes to that earthy scent of seeds and dried grains. We keep most of our stock in large jute bags and plastic containers stacked along the walls. It is not a modern store with glass counters and bright lights. It is a place where farmers and local gardeners come to get what they need for the next planting season. We have different varieties of seeds for vegetables and crops depending on what time of year it is. The floor is usually a bit dusty from the seeds being moved around. We have a small wooden desk where we keep our ledger and a calculator for adding up the costs. It is often quite bright because of the big windows that look out over Devi Road. We can see all the traffic and people walking by from up here. We spend our time weighing out portions of seeds into paper bags and talking to customers about the weather or the soil. It is a very basic way of doing things, but it has worked for us for a long time. We just focus on the seeds.