Agrawal General Stores

Living and working in the Housing Board area means life moves a bit slower than the main market. Agrawal General Stores is tucked away here, and we mostly see the same families every day. It’s a bit like being part of a big group where everyone knows what everyone else is buying. We sell everything from notebooks for the school kids to washing powder for the housewives. The shop isn't very big, so we have to use every inch of wall space for hanging things up. Sometimes the ceiling looks like it’s made of potato chip packets. We don't have a computer to track things; we just look at the shelves and see what is missing. The light inside is a bit yellow, and the fan wobbles when it is on high speed. It gets very hot in the afternoons, so we usually sit near the door to catch whatever breeze comes through. We’ve had some of the same glass jars for candy since we opened. Kids come in with a few coins and spend a long time deciding what they want. It makes the day go by. We don’t have any fancy signs or advertisements. People just know we are here when they run out of milk or need a new lightbulb. It is a quiet existence, just keeping the shelves stocked and saying hello to the neighbors as they pass by our door.