Medina Provisonal Store

Our little shop, Medina Provisional Store, is right near the Barbar Shah Main Bridge in the Lal Chowk area. It’s a busy spot in Srinagar and there is always someone crossing the bridge or heading toward the market. I usually walk here in the morning when the air is still a bit crisp. Running a store like this means you spend a lot of time lifting heavy bags of pulses and stacking tea boxes. We have been here at 190001 for years and the wooden shelves have seen better days, but they hold everything together just fine. Most days are predictable, which is actually quite nice for a change. People from the neighborhood stop by for their daily bread, sugar, or maybe a packet of biscuits. We don't really do anything special, we just keep the essentials that every house needs. If the bridge is crowded, the shop gets busy too. Sometimes customers complain about the prices of oil or gas, and we just listen because we know how it is. It’s a local place where you can hear the latest news about what is happening in the city. The floor gets a bit dusty with all the people coming in and out, so we sweep it a few times a day. It is just a basic provision store for the folks living around Barbar Shah. We are not trying to be a big supermarket, just a place that’s always open when you run out of salt.