Sri Balaji Rice Mundy

If you head over to Sarapoji Market in Keezhavasal, you will find us in J Block at number 14. Sri Balaji Rice Mundy is a traditional kind of shop. We deal mostly in big quantities of rice, so there are always sacks piled up high against the walls. It smells like dry grain and burlap in here. The floor is mostly covered in a fine layer of dust from the rice, no matter how much we sweep. I usually sit on a wooden bench near the entrance and wait for customers to come by. It’s a busy market area, so there is always the sound of carts and people shouting outside. We’ve been at this spot for quite a long time, and the walls could probably use a fresh coat of paint. We use an old iron scale for the smaller bags, and it’s still as accurate as the day we got it. Sometimes the rain leaks through a small spot in the roof near the back, so we have to move the stock around. It’s not a fancy lifestyle, but it’s what we know. My hands are always a bit rough from handling the heavy bags all day. We don’t have a computer or anything, just a thick notebook where we write down the sales. It’s a simple way of doing things, but it works for the people in Keezhavasal who have been coming to us for years.