Kesharmal Poonamchand

Over at Market Yard 306/307, things move fast. Kesharmal Poonamchand is right in the middle of all that noise and dust. We open up pretty early, usually before the sun is even fully up, to get things ready for the day. There are crates everywhere and people shouting across the floor to get each other's attention. It’s a bit of a mess sometimes, but we know where everything is. You learn to work around the piles of stock. Our spot isn't the biggest, but we make it work for what we need. The floor is concrete and gets cold in the winter, though we don't spend much time sitting down anyway. We’ve had the same regulars coming by for years, and we usually know what they want before they even ask. It’s a lot of physical work, lifting and carrying stuff back and forth. By the afternoon, the energy starts to drop a bit, and that's when we catch up on the cleaning. We don't have a front desk or anyone to answer phones with a script. You just talk to whoever is closest to the door. Sometimes we have tea together when there's a quiet moment, but those don't last long. It’s just the way the market operates. We’ve stayed in this spot because it's familiar and it’s where we belong. It’s not glamorous, but it’s our living. We just keep doing what we've always done and hope for a good day's trade.