Phone Zone

Phone Zone is right there at Shivaji Chowk in Vadgoensheri, number 25. If you know the chowk, you know how busy it gets with the rickshaws and people constantly moving around. Our shop is right in the thick of it. We have a glass counter at the front where we keep all the screen protectors and cases. They get dusty because the door is always open to let the breeze in, but the street dust comes in too. I spend a lot of time cleaning the glass with a rag. We have a lot of people coming in for small things, like a new charging cable or just to ask why their battery is dying so fast. It's a lot of talking throughout the day. The stools we have are a bit wobbly, but they work. In the back, there is a small bench where we do the actual repair work under a bright light. It’s a bit cramped back there with all the spare parts and old phones we keep for scrap. The power goes out once in a while, and then we just sit and wait for it to come back. We keep a radio playing most of the time to drown out some of the traffic noise from outside. It’s just a simple mobile shop, nothing more, nothing less. We’re just here from morning until late evening most days. It gets tiring, but seeing the same faces from the neighborhood makes it feel like home.