Roshan Lal Lalit Mohan

Roshan Lal Lalit Mohan is our family shop. We are at number 7 in the New Gadodia Market in Khari Baoli. This is an old part of the city and the streets are very narrow. You can’t even bring a car into our lane. We trade in bulk spices and dried goods. The shop has been in our family for two generations. It’s a small space, mostly filled with tall stacks of sacks. We have a wooden counter that is worn smooth from years of people leaning on it. My brother and I run the place now. We don't use much technology, just a calculator and our notebooks. Every morning we sweep the front and light a bit of incense. The market is very loud with the sounds of carts and laborers carrying heavy loads on their backs. We drink tea from the stall next door about four times a day. We know the other shopkeepers around us very well. It’s a tight community. We don't have a mission statement or anything like that. We just try to sell things that are worth the money. Sometimes we sit and talk to old customers for an hour even if they only buy a small bag of black pepper. It’s just the way things are done here in Khari Baoli. We’ve seen the market change, but our little shop stays pretty much the same as it was when we were boys.