Shiv Departmental Store

People around Piprali Road know us pretty well because we’ve been here for years. Shiv Departmental Store is just a typical shop where you can find most of what you need for your house. We have big bags of rice, different kinds of lentils, and all the usual snacks that the neighborhood kids come in for after school. My family helps run the place, so you’ll usually see one of us behind the counter. In the mornings, it’s mostly people coming in for milk and bread. Then it gets quiet for a bit until the evening when everyone is coming home from their jobs. We try to keep everything on the shelves in some kind of order, but it gets messy when the shop is crowded. The place isn't huge, but we make the most of the space we have. I know most of our customers by their first names. We talk about the weather or how the road construction is going while I’m weighing out the flour or pulses. It’s not one of those big supermarkets with bright lights and fancy aisles. It’s just a regular local store. We stock whatever people in the area ask for the most. Sometimes we run out of something and have to wait for the next delivery truck. That’s just how it goes. We keep the doors open late because that's when people realize they forgot something for their dinner. It’s a lot of standing and lifting.