Mainmoon Hardware

If you’ve ever been to Sarang Street in Masjid Bunder West, you know how crowded it gets at all hours. Mainmoon Hardware is right there in the Kapadia Complex, surrounded by all sorts of other shops. It’s a tight squeeze inside with boxes of screws and hinges stacked all the way to the ceiling. We spend most of our time climbing up and down ladders to find what people need. The street outside is always full of handcarts and people shouting, so it’s never really quiet here. We sell all the basic hardware stuff that builders and carpenters are looking for every day. Sometimes a customer comes in with a rusted old part and asks if we have something that matches, and we have to dig through the bins to find it. It’s a bit of a maze in here and things get lost easily. My cousin helps me out on the busy days when the shop gets packed with people. We don't have a lot of room to move around, but we know where most things are kept. The air is thick with the smell of metal and cardboard boxes. Lunch is usually eaten quickly behind the counter while waiting for the next person to walk in. It’s a hectic place to work, especially when the monsoon rains start and things get damp near the front door. We just try to keep the stock dry and keep things moving as fast as we can for the customers.