Chaman Lal Delory

Our place, Chaman Lal Delory, is at D-111 in Jawala Heri. It’s a busy market spot where everyone knows everyone else’s business. We’ve been here for a long time, and the shop is filled with all sorts of things that people in the neighborhood might need. The morning starts with sweeping the dust off the front step because the main road gets very dusty with all the rickshaws and cars passing by. It’s a small shop, so we have to stack things all the way up to the ceiling to make everything fit. Sometimes it takes me a few minutes just to find what a customer is looking for because it’s tucked away behind something else. We don’t have a fancy display or bright lights, just a couple of tube lights that flicker sometimes. The market gets really crowded in the evenings when the ladies come out to do their shopping after the heat dies down. That is when we are the busiest. I usually sit on a small wooden stool behind the counter. My son helps out sometimes, but mostly it is just me. We see the same people every day, like the man who sells snacks across the way and the delivery guys. It’s a simple life, just opening the shop, talking to people, and making sure we have enough stock for the next day. The walls could use a new coat of paint, but we never seem to find the time.