Ankit Gift Gallery

Our place, Ankit Gift Gallery, is located at Plot No 91 in the Netaji Subhash Market. It’s one of those markets where everyone seems to know each other. The shop is basically one large room with shelves reaching all the way to the ceiling. We have to use a small wooden ladder to get to the things at the top. The floor is concrete and we try to sweep it every morning before the first customer arrives. There is always a lot of chatter coming from the other stalls in the market, which makes the day go by faster. We stock a variety of gifts, mostly stuff that people buy for birthdays or weddings. It’s not a fancy gallery despite the name; it’s more of a local store where things are piled up according to what’s popular that week. Sometimes the delivery trucks block the entrance to Plot No 91, and we have to help them move boxes quickly. The weather affects us a lot because when it rains, the market gets a bit muddy and fewer people come out. On sunny days, we keep the front wide open. We have a small desk where we do all the billing and wrapping. It’s a bit cramped when we have a lot of stock, but we manage just fine. We’ve been here long enough that the shop feels like a second home to us now.