Goyal Cardamom Co.

The shop is tucked away in Gadodia Market, which is right in the middle of the Khari Baoli chaos. If you’ve ever been to this part of Delhi, you know how crowded it gets with the carts and the people pushing past each other. We are at Shop Number 3. It’s a narrow space, mostly filled with sacks of cardamom. We’ve been operating out of this spot for years, and the walls have that old market smell of dried goods and burlap. Usually, there are three or four of us working here, just moving bags around or checking the quality of a new batch that came in. It's loud outside from early morning until late at night, but we’re used to it. The light inside isn’t great, but we know where everything is by touch. We don't have a big sign or anything flashy. Most people find us because they’ve been coming to this market since they were kids. Sometimes the weather gets really hot and the air in the market feels thick, so we just keep the doors open and try to catch a breeze. We spend a lot of time just talking to the other shopkeepers while we wait for deliveries. It’s a lot of manual work, lifting and shifting, but that’s the way business has always been done in Khari Baoli. It’s not a fancy place, just a working shop in an old building.