Ashok Bhandar

This shop is right in the middle of the crowd at Hathipole. If you know the Chetak MG area, you know how loud it gets with all the traffic and people walking. We have been sitting here for years. It is a general store where we keep many things packed in boxes. We have spices that we weigh out and put in plastic bags. Also grains like wheat and different lentils. The shop is narrow, so we have to stack things high up to the ceiling. I use a long wooden pole with a hook to get things down from the top shelves. It takes some practice not to drop anything. Customers come from all over the city because they know we have been here a long time. It gets very hot in the afternoons, so we keep a small table fan running near the cash box. We don't really have a big staff, just family members taking turns. Sometimes we talk to the other shopkeepers next door when there are no customers. Dealing with the wholesale market is a headache sometimes. Prices keep changing every week. We just write everything down in the big red registers. It is a busy life, but we like being in the heart of the market. People stop by for tea at the stall nearby and then come in to buy their monthly supplies. It is just a regular old-style bhandar with a lot of history.