Ludhiana Armg & General Store

Sadar Bazar is always a bit of a mess, but that’s where we are, right by Pull Mithal. Our shop at 130-132 is one of those places that has been there long enough that the walls look a bit tired. We spend most of our hours behind the counter, dealing with whoever walks in off the street. It’s a general store, so we have a mix of everything, and sometimes it takes a minute to find exactly what someone is asking for because the stacks go pretty high. The fan on the ceiling makes a clicking sound that we’ve stopped noticing. Outside, the rickshaws are always shouting, and there’s a constant smell of street food and exhaust. We don’t have a website or any of that stuff, just this physical spot where we show up every morning. We drink a lot of chai and talk to the other shopkeepers when things get quiet in the afternoon. Usually, it's just about managing the inventory and making sure the ledgers are somewhat correct at the end of the day. There’s a lot of dust that comes in from the main road, so someone is always wiping down the glass cases. It isn’t a glamorous job, but it’s what we do. We’ve seen the market change over the years, but our little corner stays mostly the same. We just keep the doors open and wait for the next delivery truck to block the lane.