A stall is born

[Text and photo by Mayank Austen Soofi]

“Chai/Coffee. Garma-garam poori. Aloo ki subzi. Garam-garam parathe.”

It is all handwritten in black. The white A4 sheets are taped across the stall’s street-facing side. A woman is standing behind the counter. Her one arm is managing the agitated chai in the pan, the other arm is adjusting the stack of puffy pooris on an adjacent plate.

The handwriting on the sheets belongs to this woman.

“This is my stall,” she says. Neetu founded Ambey Tea Stall 15 days ago, here in south Delhi’s Lado Sarai. Her entire family is at the stall this evening. Mother Geeta, bhabhi Pooja, bhabhi’s two little girls Prisha and Nisha, and Neetu’s husband Ajay, who has slipped out for some errand, she says. Neetu administers the stall with the husband. The rest of the family happens to be present because they were in the market for some work.

Lado Sarai is one of the many villages in Delhi, close to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Qutub Minar. The bustling market lane is the village’s main street, crammed with courier offices, hyperlocal groceries, as well as designer studios and art galleries that stand out somewhat starkly from the rest of the rustic-seeming scene.

Neetu says that this is the first time that she is working outside her home, though her husband did have a “private job.” She explains that the couple decided to launch the business so far from their residence in Vasant Kunj, because “many people frequent this market.”

Indeed, the lane is full of sidewalk eateries. One comprises of a table paired with a garden umbrella. One has wicker chairs. The modestly named Chai Stall , some distance away, is actually a tea house manned by uniformed staffers.

Neetu’s open-air stall, consisting of three tables, stands outside a blue gate. Two of the tables serve as her cooking counter, while the third is for the diners. There are a few folding chairs as well. A bin is placed in front of the stall.

“We have been here for two weeks, we hope the business will pick up,” she says. A customer appears, shyly claims a seat, asking for chai and paratha.

Seated on a back chair, Neetu’s mother is silently watching the proceedings.

Pouring the garma-garam chai into a glass, Neetu remarks: “We started this stall to improve our lives… to attain happiness.”