J N Masala

We are at Housing Board Koyla Phatak 385. J N Masala is where we spend all our time. If you come near the shop, you can usually smell the spices before you even see the door. It’s a strong smell, sometimes it makes you sneeze if we are grinding something particularly spicy. We have bags of whole spices sitting around and smaller containers for the ground stuff. The shop is small and the shelves are a bit crooked because we put them up ourselves years ago. We do a lot of the work by hand. It’s dusty and the air is thick with the scent of cumin and turmeric. My clothes always smell like the shop when I go home. We don't have any fancy packaging with bright colors. We just put things in plain bags and tie them up. It’s a quiet neighborhood for the most part, except for the occasional noise from the railway area. We have a few regulars who have been coming to us since we first opened. We don't do much advertising. People just find us by word of mouth or by following their nose. It’s a modest living but it keeps us busy and we like the work. It’s simple and honest, just like the spices we sell every day.