Sri Mahalakshmi Flour Mills

The machines here at the mill start early in the morning. You can hear the hum from the end of Gundopanth Street. It gets very warm inside when the grinders are going. We have bags of grain stacked up almost to the ceiling. Everything is covered in a light layer of white flour dust, including my hair by the end of the shift. People bring their wheat and rice in big sacks. We weigh it on the old scale and then get to work. It’s loud, so we have to shout a bit to hear each other. T-64 is an old building and the walls are thick. We don't have any air conditioning, just a couple of big fans that move the dust around. It’s hard work but it’s what we do. We’ve known the families on this street for years. They come here because their parents came here. We don't have a fancy office. Just a small wooden box where we keep the cash and the bills. Sometimes the machines break and we have to fix them ourselves with a wrench. It’s part of the job. By the time we close, we’re tired and covered in flour, but the street is quiet then. We just lock up and go home, then do it all again the next day. It’s a basic business but people need their grain ground. We don't need much else besides working machines and a bit of grain to grind.