Haji Nasarudin Ahmed Ji Sorgar

If you walk through the crowded lanes of Chandni Chowk, you eventually find us at 396. This part of Delhi never really sleeps, or at least it feels that way. Haji Nasarudin Ahmed Ji Sorgar is the name on the front, and it has been there for quite some time. The building is old, like most things in this neighborhood, and the walls have seen a lot of history. Inside, things are piled up and it might look a bit messy to someone from the outside. But we know where everything is kept. The street outside is always full of rickshaws and people carrying heavy loads. Sometimes the heat in the summer is hard to deal with, so we keep the fans running all day. We drink a lot of tea from the stall nearby. We don’t spend money on big signs or loud ads. People just know where 396 is and they come when they need something. It’s a simple way of running things. We open the doors in the morning and wait for the day to start. There is always a lot of shouting and horns honking outside, but inside the shop, we just focus on the counter. It is a family thing, really. We grew up around these shelves and these streets. Chandni Chowk is our home and this shop is where we spend our lives. There is no other way we would have it.