Aarya Sarees

At Aarya Sarees, we spend most of our time surrounded by piles of fabric. We’re at number 11 in the Shiv Shakti Shopping Centre, right near Roopali Nehar. If you know Bhatar Road, you know it’s a busy spot. Our shop is in the B/R 1/306 area of the complex. It’s not a huge place, but we pack a lot into it. Every morning we open up, sweep the floor, and start folding things that got messed up the day before. People come in looking for something specific for a wedding or just something to wear at home. We don’t do the hard sell. If they like it, they buy it. Sometimes they spend an hour looking and leave with nothing, and that’s fine too. That’s just part of the saree business. The shopping centre is always full of noise—people talking, scooters parking, kids running around. Near the nehar, you get a bit of a breeze sometimes, which is nice in the summer. We’ve been here long enough that we know most of the other shopkeepers. We trade stories over tea when it's quiet. It’s a basic life, but we like being part of the Bhatar community. We don't have a website or anything like that; people just know where we are. We just keep doing what we do, one day at a time, keeping the shelves full for whoever stops by.