Chaurasia Pan & Juice Bhandar

Subhash Nagar 30 is where you can find us. It’s a small shop, mostly filled with the smell of fresh fruit and the sweet scent of betel leaves. I’ve been running this place for years. My hands are usually stained with juice or lime by the end of the day. The blender makes a lot of noise, so sometimes I have to shout to hear what people are asking for. It gets really busy in the evenings when the weather cools down a bit. People come by after dinner for a pan or a cold glass of mosambi juice. We keep the oranges piled up in the front so everyone can see they're real. The fridge hums all day long. Sometimes the electricity goes out and we have to use the manual hand press for the juice. It’s hard work but it keeps things moving. The shop isn’t very big, just enough space for me to stand and a couple of people to wait. We know the neighbors well. The tea stall guy next door always comes over for a talk when he’s free. Subhash Nagar is a loud place, but we like it here. It feels like home after all these years. We don't do anything special, just the usual stuff you’d expect from a corner shop like ours. Every morning I sweep the front and get the fruit ready for the day.