Mehraj Din

The shop is right here on Ziyarat Road in Batamaloo. If you know Srinagar, you know this area stays pretty active throughout the year. Living and working in the 190009 area has its own pace. My name is Mehraj Din, and this is just where I spend my days. When the winters come and it gets really cold, we keep the shop open as long as we can, even when the snow starts piling up outside. The road can get a bit muddy or crowded with buses, but that's just life in Batamaloo. It’s a simple setup we have here. I spend a lot of time just sitting by the door, watching people go by and helping those who stop in. It’s not a huge business with lots of employees; it’s mostly just me and sometimes a bit of help from the family. We don’t do any fancy advertising or anything. People know where we are because we’ve been on Ziyarat Road for a long time. Every morning I sweep the front and get things ready for the day. Sometimes the power goes out, or the street gets blocked, but we just deal with it. It’s a quiet kind of life, even with all the noise from the street. We just try to be useful to the people living nearby and keep things running smoothly. It is a long day, but seeing familiar faces makes it much easier.