Mandeep Singh

The shop here in Bathinda, Punjab, is called Bhogal Agriculture Works, and it’s where Mandeep Singh and the rest of us spend our days. If you come by, you’ll likely see us covered in grease or some kind of engine oil. Working on agricultural machinery is heavy work and it never really stops, especially when the harvesting season is around the corner. The air always smells a bit like diesel and old metal. We’ve got a lot of tools scattered around the benches, and we know exactly where each one is, even if it looks like a mess to someone else walking in. Farmers from all around this part of Punjab bring their equipment here because they know we don't mess around. We just look at the problem and try to fix it so they can get back to their fields. It’s not a quiet life, with the sound of welding and hammering going on all the time. Sometimes we sit outside on old wooden stools to catch a bit of a breeze when the sun gets too hot inside the shed. We don't have any fancy signs or big marketing plans. People just know Mandeep and they know the work we do. It’s honest labor and we take it one day at a time, making sure the tractors and plows are ready for the dirt.