Laxmi Variety Stores

You can find us in Pansila, Kolkata, near the Kalitala area in Ghosh Para. It is a local spot in Natagarh where people walk a lot. We have a variety of things because that is what people expect from a store like this. We keep stationery for the school kids, small toys, and also regular things like soap and shampoo. The shop isn't huge so we use the walls to hang packets of chips and small items. There is a temple nearby so many people stop by after their morning prayers to pick up what they need for the day. The air is often humid here so we have to be careful about how we store things like biscuits so they don't get soft. We have a small counter where we sit and talk to the neighbors. Kolkata is a place where people like to talk, so we hear all the news about the locality while we are working. Sometimes it rains very hard and the water comes right up to the doorstep, then we have to move the bags of sugar higher up. We've been here for a while and the people in Ghosh Para are like family to us. We don't have any computers or fancy billing systems, we just write things down in a notebook or do the math in our heads. It’s a quiet life most of the time except for when the kids come in after school finishes.