Rajnish Provisnal Store

Our store is right at the Nariya Tiraha in the Saket Nagar area of Varanasi. It is a very lively part of the city with lots of traffic and people walking around. We provide provisions for the local households, mostly things like tea, sugar, and cooking oils. The shop isn't anything fancy. It’s just a room filled with shelves and a large counter at the front. We spend a lot of our time just organizing the stock and making sure everything is in its place. Varanasi can be a very hot city, so we try to keep the shop as cool as possible with a few fans. We have been here for a good while and we know most of the people who live in the lanes behind the shop. It’s nice to have regular customers who come in just to say hello even if they don't need to buy anything that day. We don't have any computerized billing; everything is written down in a ledger. Sometimes it takes a bit longer to calculate the total, but nobody seems to mind too much. We do all the cleaning ourselves, which is a big job given how much dust comes off the main road. We don't have any big slogans or missions. We just open up, serve the people, and close when the day is done. It’s a straightforward way to live and work in such a historic and busy city like this.