Khahlil Ahmed Fruit Merchant

The shop is at Gumanpura Road in the Fruit Subji Mandi, specifically at A 7. If you know the area, you know how crowded it gets in the early morning. I usually get here while it’s still dark to meet the trucks. We deal with whatever fruit is in season, so the stock changes all the time. Right now there’s a lot of crates to move around and it gets tiring on the back. My family has been doing this for a long time. We aren't trying to be the biggest merchant in Kota, just trying to sell what we have before it goes soft. The floor gets sticky from crushed grapes or overripe mangoes, and there is always a lot of shouting when the bidding starts. It’s a loud, messy environment but we like it that way. Customers come in looking for a good price and we try to give them a fair deal without too much talk. We don’t have a marketing team or anything like that. It’s just us and the fruit crates. Sometimes the heat is really bad and we have to keep everything covered with wet sacks. You just do what you have to do to keep things fresh. Being at Khahlil Ahmed Fruit Merchant means being on your feet most of the day. It’s a basic life, but it works for us and our kids.