Mushtaq Provisional Store

You can find us in Bohri Kadal, Khanyar. Srinagar is a beautiful place to live, but running a shop like Mushtaq Provisional Store is a lot of hard work. I get up very early to make sure everything is ready before the first customer arrives. The shop is situated in a busy little corner of the neighborhood. We have all the basic provisions that people need. Oil, pulses, spices, and things like that are always in stock. Khanyar is a crowded area with a lot of old houses and narrow paths. Our customers are mostly neighbors who have lived here for many generations. I know their names and even their family problems. It is a very social job because people talk a lot. Sometimes they stay for a long while just to chat about the news or the local events. I have a lot of large glass jars on the counter for sweets and biscuits. The local kids love those when they come home from school. The walls are a bit stained from the years of use, but I do not really mind. It feels like home to me. I handle all the ordering and the stocking of the goods myself. Sometimes the trucks cannot get through the narrow streets because of the parked cars, so I have to carry the heavy bags in myself. It keeps me moving and healthy. We do not have any big sales or promotions. We just sell what we have.