Radhe Krishna Pan Bhandar

If you’ve ever walked through Natraj Market in Malad West, you know how packed it gets. We are over at Shop No 25/B, right along S V Road. Radhe Krishna Pan Bhandar isn't a place where you sit down and spend an hour. It’s more of a quick stop while you’re out running errands or after you’ve had a heavy meal at one of the nearby spots. We have our small counter covered with leaves and jars of different ingredients. It’s a tight space, barely enough for two people to stand behind the glass, but we’ve managed for a long time. The market noise is constant, with people shouting prices and rickshaws honking right outside on the main road. We see everyone from office workers to families doing their weekend shopping. Sometimes the rain comes down hard and people crowd under our little awning to stay dry for a minute. We keep the betel leaves fresh and try to keep things tidy, though it’s hard when it’s this busy. Most people don’t even say much, they just point to what they want and we get to work folding the leaves. It’s a small bit of tradition in a very fast-moving part of Malad. We’ve seen many shops come and go around us, but we’re still here at number 25/B, just doing what we know how to do every day from morning until late night.