Nareshchandra Kantilal Zaveri

We have been here on Sheikh Memon Street for a very long time now. Our shop is at number 101, right in the middle of all the noise and the crowds of Zaveri Bazaar. My family has been doing this for generations. We open the shutters early in the morning, usually before the heat really kicks in. The tea guy comes around 10, and that’s when our day really starts. It’s a lot of work handling small pieces of jewelry and checking stones all day long. We sit in this small space and talk to people who have been coming to us since I was just a little kid. You see the same faces every week. It is definitely not like those big fancy malls you see nowadays. Here, you have to know who you are dealing with across the counter. Sometimes the ceiling fans don't work right and it gets a bit stuffy, but that is just part of being in this part of town. We don't have fancy lights or big posters. We just have the old counters and the heavy safes. People come in, sit on the small stools, and we show them whatever we have in stock. Most of the day is just spent weighing things and keeping the books straight. We don’t really do any advertising because everyone around here already knows where we are. It’s a simple way to live, just keeping the shop going.