Sunrise General Stores

Sunrise General Stores has been here in Vishrantwadi at 55/2 for a long time now. We are tucked into the 4th Block, and most of the people who come in are the same ones we see every single day. It’s a neighborhood store, so we carry a bit of everything. There are sacks of rice near the entrance and rows of jars filled with biscuits and candies on the shelves behind the counter. The morning is our busiest time because that’s when the milk packets arrive and everyone needs bread or eggs for breakfast. Sometimes the delivery truck is late and we have to tell twenty different people to come back in half an hour. The shop is small and the shelves are crowded, so you have to be careful not to knock anything over when you’re walking through the narrow aisle. We have a small fridge for the cold drinks, but the compressor makes a loud humming noise that we’ve just gotten used to. My hands are usually dry from handling paper bags and cardboard boxes all day. We don't have a fancy billing system, just a simple calculator and a drawer for the cash. Sometimes kids come in with just a few coins looking for a single piece of gum, and we have to hunt for change. It’s a simple life, opening the shutters early and closing them once the street lights have been on for a few hours.