R.P. Spares

If you’ve ever been to Kashmere Gate, you know how chaotic it is. R.P. Spares is tucked into the Shiv Motor Market at Plot No. 1100B/1, and it’s always a scramble. There are boxes stacked up to the ceiling, and sometimes I forget what is hidden in the very back of the shelves. The market is so crowded that even walking down the alley can be a struggle when people are moving crates of parts. We deal with spare parts all day long. People come in looking for something specific for an old engine, and we spend half the time hunting through the dusty stacks. It’s not a clean job; your hands are always black from touching old metal and rubber. The noise from the street never stops—horns honking and rickshaws shouting. We’ve been in this spot for a while, and the wooden counter is worn down from years of people leaning on it. We don't have a computer system that tells us exactly where everything is; it’s mostly just memory and a lot of searching. It gets very dusty, no matter how much we try to sweep. We drink a lot of tea from the guy who walks around with the kettle, and that’s how we get through the day. It’s a tough place to work because it’s so cramped, but it’s where all the action is for motor parts.