Lakhan Lal & Sons

If you’ve ever been to Chandni Chowk you know how it is. It’s loud and crowded and you’re always bumping into someone. That’s where we are at Lakhan Lal & Sons right in the middle of it all at New Mahesh Market. We’re in Gali Ghante Wali which is just across from the big Haldiram. Most people use that as a landmark to find us. My family has been doing this for a long time. I grew up around these shelves and the smell of the market. It’s not like those modern stores in the malls with the bright lights and quiet music. Here it’s dusty and there’s always someone shouting for a delivery boy or a chai wallah passing by. We keep things pretty simple. The shop isn’t huge but we know where everything is even if it looks like a mess to someone else. We deal with all sorts of people every day and that’s the best part really. You hear all the gossip from the market and see the same faces year after year. It’s hard work and the summer heat in these narrow lanes is no joke. But we’ve been at number 1870 for so long I don't think we’d know what to do anywhere else. We just keep the doors open and take it one day at a time like my father did before me.