Ram Babu General Store

This is Ram Babu’s place on Jail Road. We are right in the heart of the Bangla Bazar area here in Lucknow. Being across from the Allahabad Bank means we see a lot of foot traffic every day from people running errands. I’ve been running Ram Babu General Store for many years now. It’s a basic shop, nothing fancy to look at from the outside, but we have what you need for your kitchen and home. The Ashiyana Road gets very crowded in the evenings when everyone is coming home from work, and that’s when we are the busiest. I usually have a cup of tea in the afternoon while waiting for that evening rush to start. It’s hard work keeping everything in stock, especially when the suppliers are late or the trucks get stuck. We don’t do home delivery or anything fancy, people just walk in, find what they need, and we bag it up for them. I know most of my customers by their first names since they live in the nearby colony and have been coming here for ages. We talk about the price of onions or the weather or how the kids are doing in school. My son helps out during his holidays when I need an extra hand. The shop floor is a bit uneven, but it doesn't bother anyone who comes in. We keep the lights on late because there's always someone who forgot to buy something for their dinner. It’s just a regular life in a regular store for us. We don’t try to be anything we aren’t.