R A Steel Co

Sadar Bazar is probably the loudest place in the city, and being right in the Bartan Market at R A Steel Co means we are in the middle of all that noise every day. At 1029, the shop is full of metal. You can hear the clanging of steel being moved or stacked up from down the street. It’s a tight space and we have to be careful not to trip over the inventory when we move around. There’s always a layer of dust on everything, no matter how much we clean in the mornings. We deal with all sorts of people, from big buyers to someone just looking for a single pot for their kitchen. The heat in the market during the summer is something else, and we mostly just rely on the ceiling fans and plenty of cold water to stay sane. We’ve been in this market for a long time, so we know all the other shopkeepers and their families. We talk about the prices going up and how the transport is getting more difficult every year. Sometimes a truck gets stuck in the narrow lane and everything stops for an hour while they try to move it. We don't have time for fancy talk or complicated business plans. We just open up in the morning, count the stock, and start selling. It’s a lot of physical work, lifting heavy things and making sure the counts are right. It’s just how things are done here.