Ram Chander Balushahi Wale

Down in Shahdara Mandi, specifically at Chotta Bazar 231, you will find us working since early morning. The air around here is always thick with the smell of sugar syrup and frying dough. My hands are usually covered in flour by ten o'clock. We have been at this spot for a long time and the neighborhood has changed so much, but our small shop stays the same. The street outside is narrow and crowded with rickshaws and people carrying bags of grain from the mandi. It gets very hot in the summer with the big iron pans going all day. We do not have fancy decorations or big signs, just the sweets sitting in the trays. People stop by on their way home to grab a box. Sometimes we run out of stock before the sun goes down and then we just start cleaning up for the next day. The tiles on the floor are worn down from so many people standing there waiting. I spend a lot of time talking to the regular customers who have been coming here since they were kids. It is a simple life in Chotta Bazar. We do not try to do anything too complicated. We just make the sweets like we always have and hope the stove keeps working. Dealing with the crowd can be tiring but it is what we know.