The ‘card’ here is the membership card that the store had issued to businessmen and wholesalers but that didn’t deter Sher Singh and his son. Brandishing his prized Voter’s I-card, Sher Singh has made many trips to the “godown”, but hadn’t found the cinema hall.

“I don’t know if they are showing movies in there but my cousin from Manawala Kalan managed to get some things on the first day,” says Sher Singh.

This ‘no-retail’ rule has had villagers disappointed. “I was hired as a daily wager while the building was being built but I am not allowed inside now,” says Amrik Singh, a man in his early 50s. “But I hear it’s a huge canteen and everything’s really cheap,” says Preeto, an old woman.

A walk down the fields and we bump into Geeta, whose husband owns an “agency”. “I hear it’s a shopping place but I am not keen to have a look. Are you looking for directions,” she asks disinterestedly, pointing in the direction of the building before sauntering off.

We wave down a man on a motorcycle. He is Angrez Singh, sporting natty sunglasses and peroxide blonde hair. “I am a TV artist,” he says, grinning. “Wal-Mart?” Now that, clearly, isn’t Angrez Singh’s area of interest and he looks lost for a second but quickly recovers his TV-star flourish. “It’s a mall and that’s what we call it,” he says before revving up and disappearing in a cloud of dust.