Author: Navjeet Kaur

These shops (around Qila Mubaarak) used to be stables of royal horses. They changed into shops as the monarchs left the fort. My father and grandfather used to work as mechanics for Maharaja Bhupinder Singh and on the side they would bring Sikh kakaars (steel bangles and wooden combs) from Amritsar and sell them in Patiala

I (Sheela) was born in Jind, Haryana. My parents moved to Chandigarh forty years ago when I was just two or three. They were farm labourers in Jind but in Chandigarh they learned how to stitch quilts. I learnt it from them and started working along.

I’m at this shop from 50 years. My father used to sit here before me. I’ve sold tea all my life and it has been worth it. My children are married and I’ve bought them their own shops, not too big but big enough to support the daily errands.

We are from Amritsar. We moved to Mohali in 1996. Livelihood makes people shift places. There is an adage that you move somewhere if you have to pay someone’s debt there. I must have owed some debt here.