Bhagwati General Stores

The shop is right in the middle of Fetehpuriya Market, inside Laxmi Market where it always smells like dry spices and old stone. Bhagwati General Stores isn't a fancy place, just shelves piled high with soaps, toothbrushes, and bags of flour. We usually open up quite early before the sun gets too hot because that is when the milk deliveries come in. There is always a lot of shouting and noise outside from the other vendors selling vegetables on the street. Our floor is a bit uneven, so the racks sometimes wobble if someone bumps into them by mistake. We spend a lot of time counting out change and looking for the specific brand of biscuit someone wants. My father used to run things here and not much has changed since then. We still use the same old wooden drawers for the loose items like buttons and thread. Sometimes we run out of space and have to keep the extra boxes in the back corner near the old office desk. It’s a busy life here and we don't get much rest until the shutters go down at night. People from the nearby houses come in for their daily needs, and we know most of them by name now. Sometimes a stray cat wanders in looking for a scrap of something, and we have to chase it back out into the alley. It’s just a normal part of the market where we try to keep the shelves full enough for whoever stops by.