Jeetu Kirana Store

In Hanuman Basti in Kota, things stay pretty quiet compared to the main city markets. we have this shop tucked away here and it has been our daily life for a long time. Every morning we walk over and get the locks open. The sun in Rajasthan gets really intense, so by noon we usually pull the shade down a bit to keep the porch cool. We have rows of steel bins filled with different grains and pulses. It takes a lot of effort to keep them clean and make sure no bugs get in. The floor is concrete and we have to wash it down often because of the dust that blows in from the street. We don't have any big signs or bright lights. Just a simple board with the name. Most of our customers are the people living right here in the basti. They come in for a single packet of tea or some matches. We spend a lot of time just sitting and waiting for the next person to walk in. Sometimes we listen to the radio or just watch the stray dogs sleeping in the shade outside. It isn't an exciting job but it's what we know. We stock the shelves, we sweep the entrance, and we wait for the sun to go down so we can finally go home. It’s just a small family-run place where we do our best to keep things moving along.