Maa Kalyani Stores

We sit right on 4 Dumdum Road in Kolkata, which is probably one of the noisiest streets you can find. There is always a tram or a bus going by, and the sound of people shouting never really stops. The store is old and the floor is a bit uneven in the back corner. We carry a bit of everything, mostly groceries and the kind of things you need for your daily puja. I wake up early to get the fresh supplies in before the traffic gets too bad. Dumdum Road is a mess during office hours, so we get a lot of people just popping in quickly while they wait for their bus. The shelves are high and we use a wooden ladder to reach the top rows where we keep the bulkier items. It’s a family-run place and we don't have any fancy systems. We just know our stock by heart. Sometimes the rain comes down so hard that we have to put sandbags at the door to keep the water out. It’s just part of living and working in this part of Kolkata. We don’t have much space for people to linger, so it’s usually a quick transaction and then they are back out into the crowd. It’s a constant grind, but we’ve been doing it so long it feels like home. We just keep our heads down and serve the people who walk through the door.