Majeed Provisional Store

We’ve been tucked away here at Safa Kadal Chowk in the Nawa Kadal area for quite some time now. Majeed Provisional Store isn't a huge place, but we manage to cram a lot of things onto the racks. From sacks of rice to small packets of spices, it’s all in here somewhere. Usually, the shop smells like a mix of different grains and maybe a bit of dust. It gets crowded in the evenings when everyone is coming home from work and realizes they forgot to buy something for the kitchen. I spend a lot of time just rearranging jars so everything fits. The ceiling is a bit low, and the paint is peeling in the corners where it gets damp. We don't have a big team or anything, just a couple of us making sure things are where they should be. The street outside is always busy with people shouting or bikes zooming past. Sometimes a stray cat wanders in looking for a scrap, and we have to shoo it out gently. It's a simple life running a store in Srinagar. We open early when the air is still cold and close up when the streetlights finally flicker on. There’s no big secret to how we run things. We just sell what people ask for and try to keep the place tidy enough to walk through. Most days are the same, and that’s fine with us.