Patel & Bricks Company

Our business is out in Village Sonai, which is near the Narayanpur post in the Mirzapur district. Being out in the village means our work follows the seasons more than the clock. During the monsoon, everything slows down because the clay gets too wet to work with, and we mostly just wait for the sun to come back. When it’s dry, the kiln is always going, and you can see the smoke from a good distance away. It’s a very rural setting, surrounded by fields and a few other small houses. We don't have a formal office or any of that; we usually just sit on string beds under a tree to talk about the business and settle the accounts. The bricks are made from the local earth, so they have that specific Mirzapur color that everyone around here recognizes. We have families from the village working with us, some of whom have been doing this for generations. It is a slow-paced life compared to the city, but the work itself is very hard on the back and the hands. We don't use much in the way of big machines, preferring to do most of it by hand the way we always have. It is just a local company trying to get through the year and make enough bricks for the nearby construction. We hope the weather stays clear so we can finish our current batches.