Ganpati Sweets Shop

Being in Model Town near the Surat Textile Market means we see a lot of people every day. Ganpati Sweets Shop is on the Ring Road, which is always jammed with traffic. We open very early to get the first batches of sweets ready. The smell of frying ghee fills the whole street. We have big metal trays piled high with different types of mithai. Most of our customers are workers from the textile market who want a quick bite. It is a very fast-paced environment. We don't have time for fancy decorations. The floors are stone and we have to wash them constantly because of the syrup spills. It gets very sticky. My brothers and I run the place. We learned how to make these sweets from our uncle. Sometimes the sugar prices go up and we have to worry about the costs. We just keep working through it. The shop gets very hot in the summer, even with the fans going full speed. We have a small counter where people pay, and it is usually covered in crumbs. It’s an honest living. We don’t have a marketing team or anything. People just know where we are because of the smell and the crowd. We stay open until the market quietens down at night. It is a lot of standing on your feet, but we are used to it by now. We just want to finish the day's batch.