Gupta Bhelpuri

Setting up Shop No 2 on Laxmi Road every afternoon takes more time than most people think. At Gupta Bhelpuri, we start by chopping up all the onions and potatoes while it is still quiet in Kandivali. By the time five o’clock rolls around, the traffic on Laxmi Road gets really heavy and the noise never really stops until late at night. The shop is small, so everything has to be kept in its exact place or we can't move around each other. I usually stand near the front where the big metal containers are kept. The smell of the spices stays on your skin even after you go home. It gets pretty hot behind the counter when the evening sun hits the storefront. We see a lot of the same people every day, mostly folks walking home from the station or kids after their classes are done. Sometimes I have to run out to get more change or extra lemons if we get a sudden rush. The tiles on the floor are a bit worn down from years of people standing there waiting. It is just a simple place where we do the same routine every single day. I don’t think much about it, I just focus on the task in front of me and try to keep things moving. It is a living, and Laxmi Road is a good place to be for a shop like this.