Mehta Bartan Store

Village Doraha is a quiet place most of the time, but being on Railway Road changes things. Mehta Bartan Store is located near the Ludhiana Railway Station, so we get a lot of travelers passing through. The sound of metal clinking is the main thing you hear here. Steel plates, brass pots, and heavy cookers are stacked everywhere you look. I spend hours just polishing the displays because the dust from the trains settles on everything so fast. It’s a lot of work to keep the shine on the utensils. The shop has been here for a while, and the walls show it. There are marks where we’ve leaned heavy crates over the years. Near the back, the ceiling is a bit low, so I have to remind people to watch their heads. Post Bilaspur is just down the way, so we get people coming in from the surrounding farms too. I like the weight of the items I sell; there’s something solid about a good heavy pan. Sometimes I just sit on the front step and watch the engines move back and forth on the tracks. The air smells like coal smoke and warm metal. It’s not a fancy life, but it’s mine. I make sure everything is counted and put away before the night freight train comes through, shaking the windows just a little bit.