Shiv Kirana

Shiv Kirana is tucked away in the Murlidhar Baldev Estate over in Amroli, specifically on Aarey Road. It’s a grocery shop where we spend most of our time weighing out pulses and packing sugar into small plastic bags. The estate can get quite busy with trucks and people working nearby at all hours. We’ve been at this Aarey Road location for quite a while now. The shop smells like spices and grains, which is something you get used to after a few days of working here. We keep the bins of lentils and rice lined up so people can see exactly what they’re getting. Shiv Kirana isn't a supermarket, it’s just a regular kirana store. We write down orders in a notebook and settle up when the month ends for some of our regulars. It’s a lot of manual work, carrying heavy sacks from the back room to the front counter. Amroli is a place that never really stays quiet for long. We have a small television in the corner that we watch when things slow down in the mid-afternoon heat. People come to us because we’re right here in the Murlidhar Baldev Estate and they don't want to travel far for milk or tea. We don’t have any fancy marketing or signs. We just put the items on the scale and give the change. That’s how we’ve always done it. It’s a straightforward business, and we like the people who stop by to chat while they shop for their kitchens.