Maa Ugratara Bricks

Out in the village of M. Muaballi, life is mostly about the land and what we can make from it. Maa Ugratara Bricks is tucked away in this corner of Dalgam, not far from the Mumdla Kobala post. It is a quiet spot, surrounded by fields, which gives us plenty of room to spread out our bricks for drying. The process here is very traditional, relying on the local soil and the heat of the sun before the bricks go into the kiln for firing. You can see the smoke from the chimney rising up over the trees when we have a batch going. It is a lot of walking back and forth across the yard, carrying heavy loads and making sure the rows are straight. We don't have much in the way of modern machinery, so most of what we do is by hand, just like it has been done for years. People from the surrounding villages know our name, and they usually stop by on their motorbikes or with a tractor when they need a load of bricks. The weather really dictates our life; if it rains, we have to stop everything and wait for the ground to dry out again. It is a simple existence, focused on the dirt and the fire, and we are quite content with how things run here in M. Muaballi. There are no fancy titles or corporate meetings, just a few of us making sure the bricks come out solid.