Tirumala Balaji General Store

Our store is on the Main Road in Sector-7, right near where they hold the Shaniwar Market. If you’ve ever been to the market on a Saturday, you know how crowded it gets around here in Kachchh. We have a bit of everything crammed into the shelves, from plastic buckets to small toys and household tools. The location is good because people walking to the market often stop in for things they forgot. It’s a lot of standing around and talking to customers who have been coming here for years. The ceiling is hung with all sorts of things like clips and packets to save on space. Sometimes it’s hard to find exactly what someone wants right away, but we usually know which pile it’s buried under. The dust from the Main Road is a constant battle, so we are always wiping down the counters. We don't have any air conditioning, just a couple of ceiling fans that hum all day long. When the sun starts to set, the street lights come on and the whole Sector-7 area feels a bit different. We stay open pretty late to catch the people heading home from work. It’s a simple business, nothing too complicated about it. We just sell the things people use every day and try to keep enough stock so we don't run out. It’s a noisy, busy place but we wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the district. It’s just how we make our living and we are used to it.