Desai Minerals

Our place is out on the highway, about 10 kilometers from Talokoti-1. We are right near the Devarahippagragi Road. It’s a bit of a drive to get out here, but it’s where the work is. Desai Minerals is what we call ourselves. The site is mostly open ground with piles of materials here and there. It’s a dusty environment, that’s just the nature of minerals. We have a small shed that serves as our office. It’s got a desk, a few plastic chairs, and a calendar from three years ago that nobody ever changed. We spend most of our time outside anyway. The wind blows pretty hard across the highway, which helps clear the dust sometimes. We see a lot of long-haul trucks passing by. Some of them stop to ask for directions or a bit of water. We don't have much in the way of amenities. There’s a hand pump nearby for water. It’s a rugged way to work, but we’re used to it. The sun gets really hot in the middle of the day, so we usually take a longer break then. We’ve been operating from this spot for quite a while. It’s not a place for visitors really, just a place for moving earth and stone. We keep our records in a big leather-bound book. It’s old-fashioned, but it works for us. The birds build nests in the rafters of the shed every spring. We just leave them be. It's a lonely spot sometimes, but we get plenty done without any distractions.