New Kanpur Shawl Emp.

We are located right in the middle of Mochpura Bazar at New Kanpur Shawl Emp. and if you know this area, you know how crowded it gets. The shop is filled with stacks of shawls that go almost up to the ceiling. It’s a lot of heavy lifting when new stock comes in, moving boxes through the narrow lanes of Mochpura Bazar. Most of our day is spent unfolding things to show people and then trying to fold them back up neatly, which is harder than it looks. The air in here always smells a bit like wool and old wood. We don’t have much room for fancy displays, so we just pile things where they fit. My father used to say the shop runs on tea and patience because some customers want to see every single piece before they decide on anything. The bells from the nearby temple ring every morning when we are setting out the stools. It’s noisy outside with the rickshaws and the vendors calling out, but inside it’s just us surrounded by all these different patterns and colors. Sometimes the overhead fan makes a clicking sound that we’ve just gotten used to over the years. We stay open until the sun goes down and the market starts to quiet down a little bit. It’s a simple life selling these warm things to people who are usually in a hurry to get home.