Annai Chettinad Masala

We are over here at No-9 on Mosque Street in Cropod. It’s a busy little spot, mostly because of the street traffic and the folks heading to the mosque throughout the day. Annai Chettinad Masala has been operating from this building for a while now. The air around our door usually smells like roasted coriander or dried chilies depending on what we are grinding that morning. It gets pretty loud when the machines are running, so we usually have to shout over them to hear each other. We spend most of our time sitting on low stools, sorting through bags of whole spices to make sure there aren't any small stones or stems mixed in. It is tedious work but someone has to do it. The walls inside are a bit stained from the spice dust, no matter how much we scrub them. Sometimes neighbors pop in just to say hello or complain about the sneezing when we grind the spicy stuff. We don't have a fancy office or anything like that. There is just a desk with a lot of papers and the heavy machinery in the back room. When the power goes out, which happens sometimes, we just sit outside on the steps and wait. It gives us a chance to watch the motorbikes go by on Mosque Street. We just focus on getting the bags packed and ready for whoever needs them. That is basically what goes on here every single day from morning until late evening.