Alarakha General Store

Alarakha General Store is located on the Main Road in Pratap Gunj, Vadodara. We are very close to the Boys Hostel, which means a large part of my day involves dealing with students. They come in for all sorts of things—packets of instant noodles, pens, notebooks, or just a quick soda between their classes. Because of the hostel nearby, we stay stocked up on the kinds of things young guys need when they are away from home. The 390002 area is quite lively because of the university crowd. I keep the shop open pretty late because students are famous for realizing they ran out of soap or snacks at ten o'clock at night. The store itself is packed from floor to ceiling. I’ve got buckets hanging from hooks and sacks of grains sitting near the entrance. Vadodara has a nice pace to it, and Pratap Gunj feels like a little community of its own. I know most of the regular boys by their first names and where they are from. Sometimes they just stand around and talk for a bit, which I don’t mind as long as they aren't blocking the doorway. It's a lot of work to keep everything organized, and my ledgers are always full of small debts that get settled at the end of the month. It’s just how we do things here.