Ashvin Auto Parts

Our shop is Shop No. 5 at 102-C, Peerbhoy Terrace on Girgaum Road. It’s a very old building, and you can feel the history in the wood and the stone as soon as you walk in. Being on Girgaum Road means we are right in the thick of the Mumbai traffic and noise. There are horns honking and people rushing by outside our door from sunrise to sunset. Ashvin Auto Parts has been here long enough that we know most of the regulars who come in looking for some obscure part for their car or scooter. The shelves are packed tight with boxes, some of them a bit dusty because nobody has asked for those specific items in years. We don't have a computer system that tells us where everything is; we just remember it. It’s a small shop, so things can get a bit cramped when more than two people are inside at once. Most of the time, one of us is standing behind the counter while the other is climbing a ladder to find something on the top shelf. We deal with grease and metal all day, so our hands are rarely clean. It’s a steady kind of life, even if the road outside is chaotic. We just open the shop, talk to the customers, and try to find the right bits and pieces to keep them moving.