Haji Brick Feeld

Out here in Jarwal village, near the railway station in Kaiserganj, is where we run Haji Brick Feeld. It’s a dusty place, but that’s the nature of making bricks from the earth. You can hear the trains passing by quite often, which is something we’ve just gotten used to over the years. The kiln is the heart of the whole operation. We spend our days making sure the mud is mixed just right before it goes into the wooden molds. It’s a lot of physical labor. Most of the guys here have been doing this since they were young men. We don’t have a lot of fancy technology, just the same methods that have worked for a long time in our family. The seasons really dictate how we work. When the monsoon hits, we have to stop most of the production and cover everything up with plastic. It can be a bit of a struggle during those wet months. But when the sun is out, we’re moving as fast as we can. The location near the station helps when we need to move things, but mostly it's just local folks coming by for their small building projects. It's a simple life out here in the taluka. We aren't trying to be the biggest place around, just trying to make enough bricks to keep the local builders happy. You’ll find us near the railway tracks if you're looking for us. It is a long day but the work is steady.