Samrat Bricks

Out here in Rashidpur, things move a bit slower, which honestly suits us just fine at Samrat Bricks. We’re tucked away in the Birbhum area, surrounded by green fields and a whole lot of open space. Making bricks is what we do day in and day out, and it’s been that way for years. It starts with the heavy mud and ends with those red blocks you see stacked up everywhere. We don’t use any of that complicated technology or expensive machines. It’s mostly just simple wooden molds and the heat from the big brick kiln. Sometimes the wind kicks up the dust and it gets in your eyes and hair, but you get used to that after the first week of working here. We’ve seen a lot of houses go up in this village and the next ones over using what we make right here on this ground. It feels okay knowing we had a small part in building someone’s home. Birbhum has a certain way of doing things, and we just try to fit in with the local rhythm of the seasons. The workers here are mostly from the nearby houses, so we all know each other's families and stories. It's definitely not the kind of job where you wear a clean suit. You're going to get dirty, and that’s just part of the deal. We keep the fires going and make sure everything is baked through properly. That is the daily routine for us.