Mateshwari Mobile Plaza & Service Center

Being located on College Road means we see a lot of young people every day at Mateshwari Mobile Plaza & Service Center. Most of them come in with phones that have seen better days. We spend hours at the back bench with a soldering iron and a tiny screwdriver, trying to fix charging ports or replace batteries that have swollen up. It is tedious work that strains the eyes, but it’s what we do. The front of the shop has glass counters filled with all sorts of accessories, from bright red phone cases to earphones that are always getting tangled. We don't have a big staff, just a couple of us who know how to handle the hardware. The shop is often a bit cluttered with boxes of spare parts and old phones that people never came back to pick up. We have a small television in the corner that is usually tuned to the news, providing some background noise while we work. It’s not a polished showroom. The floor tiles are cracked in a few places and the paint on the door is peeling a bit. Students often come in just to ask for a quick charge or to see if we have the latest tempered glass. We don't do much talking; we just focus on the repairs and try to get the devices back to their owners as fast as we can. It’s a steady life on a busy street.