Bartan Bhander

The shop is located on Dabri Palam Road in Mahavir Enclave, right at A-97. It is packed from floor to ceiling with all kinds of utensils. We have stacks of steel plates, big brass cooking pots, and rows of spoons and ladles. When people walk in, they have to navigate through narrow aisles of metal. It’s a noisy place because something is always clanging against something else. During the wedding season, it gets really hectic here with families coming in to buy whole sets for new homes. We spend a lot of time polishing the brass or re-stacking the stainless steel so it looks decent. The shop opens right onto the busy road, so there is always dust coming in and the sound of traffic. We have a small wooden stool behind the main counter where we sit when things get a bit slow. We’ve been here in Mahavir Enclave for years, and we’ve seen the road get wider and the traffic get heavier. Most of the people who come in are locals who need a new cooker or just a simple tiffin box. We use old-fashioned scales for some things and keep our records in big handwritten registers. It’s a simple business. We just sell the things people need for their kitchens and try to keep everything in order, even when the stacks of pots seem like they might fall.