Harsh Marble

Out here in Jamola Masuda, life moves at its own pace. Harsh Marble is basically just a yard where we keep the stock. It’s dusty work, and my clothes usually have a thin layer of white powder on them by noon. We spend most of the day moving slabs around or talking to folks who drive in from the nearby villages. The sun gets really hot in the afternoon, so we usually take a long break under the shed. It’s not a big corporate setup or anything like that. It’s just me and a couple of guys making sure the marble is cut right and loaded properly onto the trucks. Sometimes the machinery acts up and we have to spend a few hours fixing a blade or a motor. We don’t have a fancy showroom. If you want to see what we have, you just walk through the rows of stone. The ground is uneven and you have to watch your step. My family has been around this area for a long time. People know us by name. We don't do much advertising; word of mouth is usually enough to keep us busy. It’s simple work, but it keeps us fed. Sometimes we have a lot of one color and none of another, so we have to wait for the next load to arrive from the quarry. It is what it is. We just try to be fair and get the work finished.