Sandeep Pulses

Our shop is at number 3, inside Moti Bhawan on Halsi Road. It’s a very old part of town, right in the middle of Purani Dal Mandi near Ghantaghar. If you know the area, you know how tight the streets are. Most days involve moving heavy sacks of pulses around the small space we have. The air always smells a bit like earth and dried beans because of all the stock we keep. Being in a place like Makan No. 52/1, the walls are thick and it stays a bit cooler inside, which is good for the lentils. We get a lot of regulars who have been coming to this market for decades. Sometimes they just stop by to complain about the weather or the price of diesel. Dealing with different types of dal means we are always checking the quality of what comes in from the farmers. The scale at the front gets a lot of use. We write everything down in big ledgers because that’s just how we have always done it. It’s a bit cramped with all the bags piled up to the ceiling, but we know where everything is. The traffic outside on Halsi Road can be a nightmare with the rickshaws and carts, but that is just life in the Mandi. We open early and stay until the sun goes down, just keeping the business going. It’s not a very fancy way to spend the day, but it’s what we know.