Prakash Walvekar

This is the electronics shop run by Prakash Walvekar, located right at Gandhi Chowk in Islampur. We are in the Walwa Taluka of Sangli district. It’s a local business through and through. The shop is usually filled with the smell of solder and old television sets. We have all kinds of components tucked away in little drawers that only I can navigate. People from all over the district come here when their gadgets break down. I’ve been working with my hands since I was young, so fixing things comes naturally to me. The shop is a bit dusty because of the road outside, but we try to keep the sensitive parts clean. We don’t have any big signs or bright lights. Most people just know us because we’ve been at Gandhi Chowk for so long. Sometimes customers stay for a long time just to talk while I work on a circuit board. It’s a slower pace of life here compared to the big cities. I have a small stool behind the counter where I sit and wait for the next person to bring in a radio or a remote control that stopped working. The tools I use are old, but they still work perfectly fine. I take pride in being able to fix things that others might just throw away. It’s a good life, being useful to the people in my town. The evening breeze from the chowk is quite nice after a long day of work.