Monginis

Being here at Dadar East on the corner of 1st Cross and 18th Main in the Avalahalli 9 area is mostly about the morning routine. We open up the shop and the first thing is always checking the glass display cases to make sure they aren't smudged. Monginis has been on this block for a good bit of time. People stop in while they are walking to the station or just out running errands. It’s a small space, so if three people come in at once, it feels full. We have a lot of school kids who come in after class looking for something sweet. Sometimes the door squeaks when it swings open, and we keep saying we will oil it but then we get busy with a delivery and forget. We handle a lot of boxes every day, stacking them up behind the counter until they almost reach the ceiling. It isn’t a place where you sit down for hours. People usually just grab what they need and head back out to the street. The light inside is a bit bright, which helps us see what we are doing when we are writing names on cakes with that icing tube. Sometimes the pen runs out of ink right in the middle of a word, which is annoying. We just try to keep things moving and make sure the shelves aren't empty for long. It’s a steady rhythm that we have gotten used to after all these years.