The Peacock Stores

If you come down to Shriram Palace in Vishrantwadi, you’ll find us at Shop Number 7. The name Peacock Stores sounds a bit fancy, but we’re just a regular shop with a lot of different things on the shelves. It’s mostly general items, stuff people need for their houses or for the kids' school projects. The morning starts with me sweeping the front and getting the newspaper. Vishrantwadi gets quite loud with the traffic, especially in the evenings when everyone is heading home. I try to keep the stock updated, but sometimes the distributors take their time. We’ve got a bit of everything, from notebooks to small gift items and some household plastics. The shelves are wooden and they’ve seen better days. I’ve been thinking about repainting, but there’s never a quiet moment to do it. Customers come in and ask for things I haven’t heard of, and then I have to go looking for them in the market. It's a small place, so we know most of the people living around here by face if not by name. Sometimes we just sit and talk about the weather or the new road work. It’s a decent living, keeping the shop running and making sure there’s enough change in the cash drawer. It’s nothing special, just a local shop trying to stay organized in the middle of the daily rush. I keep a calendar on the wall to mark down who owes what for the milk. The fan makes a weird clicking sound.