Souvenir Corner

You can find Souvenir Corner down in Palika Bazar at shop number 21. It’s underground, so you lose track of time pretty easily. There are no windows, just the bright lights from the ceiling. It gets really crowded, especially on the weekends. People are always walking past, looking for something to take back home. We spend most of our time standing around or reorganizing the shelves because things get moved all the time. The air conditioning is always running, but it still gets warm when the crowd builds up. We’ve been in this spot for quite a while. Palika is a strange place, always buzzing with noise. You hear people bargaining and music playing from other shops. Our space is small, but we use every inch of it. The walls are covered from floor to ceiling. Sometimes we sit on a stool by the door just to watch the people go by. It’s a lot of the same faces every day, other shopkeepers mostly. We eat our lunch quickly behind the counter when there's a quiet moment. It’s not the most relaxing place to work, but we are used to the pace. We open up early and stay until the market starts to quiet down at night. It’s just the way life is at shop 21. We keep it simple and stay busy. Sometimes people ask for directions to other shops and we help out as much as we can.