Hamdard Provisional Store

If you walk through Maisuma in Lal Chowk, you will find Hamdard Provisional Store tucked in there. It is a part of Srinagar that has a lot of history and the streets can be quite narrow and packed. Our shop is not very large, but we manage to fit a lot of stuff onto the racks. I spend most of my day sitting behind the counter or checking the inventory of rice and lentils. The 190001 area is always full of life, and you get to see all sorts of people passing by. We have some regulars who have been coming to us since they were kids. It’s funny seeing them grow up and now they bring their own children to buy sweets. We don't use any fancy computers for our accounts, just a simple notebook and a pen. It works for us. The walls could probably use a new coat of paint, but we haven't found the time yet. When it rains, the shop feels a bit cramped because people crowd inside to stay dry. We just keep the basic household items that everyone uses daily. There is no big philosophy behind what we do. We just open up, serve the people from Maisuma, and close when the sun goes down. It’s honest work and it keeps us busy. Sometimes we run out of things faster than expected, but we try to get more stock in as soon as possible.