Hindustan Hardware

Living and working near the Police Line in Shiv Colony means things are usually quite steady around here. Our place, Hindustan Hardware, is at Plot No- 87. It is a solid building with a lot of stuff packed inside. You can find almost anything made of metal if you look hard enough in the back bins. We have rows of shelves that go all the way to the ceiling, filled with boxes of different sizes. Some of the boxes are torn at the edges because we move them so much. The floor is concrete and shows all the marks from moving heavy crates. It is often a bit dark in the back, so we use a torch to find specific parts. In the afternoon, the sun shines right through the front door. We know most of the people who walk by on their way to the colony. Sometimes we talk about the weather or the local news while we weigh out small items on the scale. We don’t have fancy displays or bright lights. Most of our tools are just laid out where they are easy to grab. It gets a bit cold in the winter months, so we wear extra sweaters inside. Running a hardware shop involves a lot of lifting and dirty hands, but it is what we do every day. We just keep the doors open and wait for the next person to come in looking for a specific bolt or tool.