J&M Ayurveda

If you go to the Balaji Complex near Dwarkadhish Market, you will find us at number 4. It’s right across from where the talav pump is, which most people use as a landmark when they are looking for the place on Sardarbaug Road. The air inside the shop usually smells like dried roots and different kinds of oils because that is what we deal with all day. We have rows of jars and packets everywhere. People come in asking about things for their skin or maybe something to help them sleep better when they’ve had a long week. We spend a lot of time just talking to the folks who walk in, listening to what is bothering them before we go looking on the shelves. It is not like a big modern pharmacy where everything is cold and sterile. Here, it is a bit more relaxed, and we often have a fan humming in the corner to keep the heat away. Sometimes we run out of a certain herb and have to tell people to come back in two days once the new stock arrives from the suppliers. We handle the packaging ourselves mostly, weighing things out on the small scale. It is a lot of repetitive work but it feels good when someone comes back and says the mixture helped them out. We stay open until the evening when the street gets quiet and we finally close the shutters.