Rai Traders

If you know Chawri Bazar, you know how crowded Charkhe Wallan is. We are at 3856/9. It’s a small space but we pack a lot into it. Dealing in trade means we are always counting things and writing in ledgers. The street outside is a chaos of rickshaws and people carrying huge loads on their heads. Sometimes you can barely walk through the lane. Inside the shop, it’s a bit quieter but not much. We have stacks of goods reaching up to the ceiling. We’ve been here long enough that we don’t mind the noise or the dust anymore. It’s a family kind of atmosphere even if we aren’t all related. We drink tea multiple times a day and talk to the regulars who have been buying from us for years. There’s no fancy marketing or big ads. People just know where we are by word of mouth. The floor is old stone and it’s worn down in the spots where we stand the most. We don’t use any complicated systems, just pen and paper mostly and the old calculator that’s missing a button. It’s a simple way of doing business in a very old part of Delhi. When the day ends, we pull down the shutters and head home through the narrow alleys just like everyone else around here does. It is a long day but we like it this way.