Balaji Sweets

Shop No 3 in the Shila Vihar Colony on Kothrud Shankarshet Road is where we spend most of our waking hours. At Balaji Sweets, the day starts before the sun is even up, usually with the smell of boiling milk and cardamom. We spend the morning making fresh batches of pedas and barfis while the city is still quiet. By the time people start walking to work, we’ve got the glass cases filled up with all sorts of colors. It’s a small shop, so when three or four people come in at once, it feels very crowded. We don't use fancy machines for everything; a lot of it is done by hand with big spatulas and heavy iron pots. There's always a stack of empty boxes near the back that we fold during the quiet times in the afternoon. Kids usually stop by after school looking for something small, and we know many of the neighbors by name. The floor gets a bit sticky sometimes from the sugar syrup, so we’re always mopping it down. It’s a warm place to work because of the stoves, but we’ve gotten used to it over the years. We don't have a website or anything like that, just the sign out front and the snacks in the window. When the evening rush hits, we’re mostly busy packing boxes and making sure everyone gets their change before they head home for dinner.