Pawan General Store

Shop number 13 in the DLW Jalalipati Market is where I spend most of my waking hours these days. It is a compact space but we manage to fit a lot of goods inside by using every inch of the walls. The market can be a loud place with all the different vendors calling out but inside the shop it is usually a bit calmer. I usually start the day by checking what we sold yesterday and writing it down in a thick register with a blue pen. We have everything from matchboxes to big bags of rice stacked up near the back wall. The neighbors in the market are good people and we often share tea during the slow hours in the mid-afternoon. Sometimes the electricity goes out and we have to use a handheld torch to find things for the customers. It is a bit of a squeeze when more than three people are inside at once but everyone is patient enough. I try to keep the front tidy but with the wind blowing through the market things get messy pretty fast. There is always a stack of empty cardboard boxes near the entrance waiting to be picked up. Selling groceries is mostly about remembering who wants which specific brand of oil or biscuits. It is not fancy work but it keeps the day moving along and the people in the Jalalipati area are friendly enough to make the time pass quickly.