Ajanta Ayurvedic Store

We are located at 90 Hathipole, right by the Jinger Samai Ka Mandir. Being so close to the Ayurvedic Hospital makes sense for a place like ours. The store is full of the smell of dried herbs and ground powders. It is an old building, and the walls are lined with wooden drawers that have been here since my father’s time. Each drawer has a label, some of them starting to fade now. When someone comes in, I usually have to climb a small ladder to reach the jars on the top shelf. It is a quiet part of the city, except when there is a festival at the temple next door. Then, the whole street fills up with people and music. I spend my mornings weighing out different ingredients on a small brass scale. It is not a fast process, but that is how it should be with these things. The floor is made of old stone that stays cool even when the sun is beating down outside. I do not have any big neon signs or anything like that. People find us because they know we have been here at Hathipole for years. Sometimes I sit out front on a plastic chair when the shop is empty, just watching the cows walk past or talking to the neighbors. It is a steady kind of life, surrounded by the same smells and sounds every single day.