Ajinkya Chappal

You can find our place near the Dengle Bridge on Kumbharwada Road, right by the Fire Brigade Station. It’s a busy corner with lots of sirens and traffic, but we’ve gotten used to the noise over the years. We deal mostly in chappals and other types of simple footwear. The shop is filled with the smell of rubber and leather, which stays in your clothes long after you leave. We have shelves lining the walls from floor to ceiling, all packed with different sizes and styles. Some are plain for walking around the house, and others are a bit more sturdy for the road. We spend a lot of our day helping people try things on and finding the right fit for them. The floor is just plain concrete and we have a couple of small mirrors leaning against the bottom shelves. It isn't a fancy boutique by any means, but it serves the purpose for everyone in the neighborhood. When the rain starts, we have to move the displays further back so they don't get splashed by the cars going over the bridge. We don't have a big team, just a couple of us who know where everything is kept in the back room. We’ve been at this for a long time and seen the road change quite a bit, but we just keep selling shoes to whoever needs them. It’s a basic life but it keeps us busy.