The wholesale spice market of Chawkbazar is not a fancy, spice souk you see in the Middle East; it is a messy place, with extremely narrow, mucky lanes snaking through filth. Even manoeuvring a rickshaw is a challenge on these roads which are further piled up with sacks of assorted spices, herbs used in Ayurveda and Unani, and of course dry fruits from all over the world.

If one goes to look for Farashganj Ruplal House in Dhaka, it would be a near impossible task to find it amid hundreds of shops. When they do get there eventually, they will find an old residential building covered with moss.