Sarpale Flower Merchant

If you walk down Begur Main Road in Gurunanak Nagar, you’ll find us at number 551. We’re right near the Jain Mandir, which makes it easy for people to find us when they need flowers. Being a flower merchant means our day starts way before the sun is up. We’re usually here at Sarpale Flower Merchant unloading crates and sorting through what came in fresh that morning. The floor is usually a bit wet from the water we use to keep things from wilting, and there are leaves everywhere by midday. It’s a small space, but it’s ours. We don’t spend much on decorating the shop because the flowers do that themselves. Most of our regulars live right here in the neighborhood or come by the temple. We know their names and what they usually like. It’s not a complicated business, just buying and selling what grows. Sometimes the main road gets really dusty, so we have to keep cleaning the petals. We’ve got a couple of wooden benches and some buckets. That’s pretty much the whole setup. We don't have a website or anything like that, we just stay here near the Jain Mandir and wait for people to come in. It’s a simple way to spend the day, surrounded by plants and talking to the locals. Sometimes we have to sweep up three or four times a day just to keep it somewhat tidy. It’s a lot of work but it keeps us busy.