Sree Sabari Malayaan Rice Mundy

Walking into our place on Lords Avenue, you’ll mostly see stacks of rice bags piled up high. We are right here in Gandhi Nagar, and it stays pretty busy because people always need their staples. Sundara Puram is a good area, though the traffic near our shop can get a bit much during the afternoons. We spend a lot of our time just unloading trucks and making sure the different varieties of rice are kept dry and clean. It’s heavy work, lifting those sacks all day. Sometimes the stitching on a bag rips and we have to fix it quickly before the grains spill everywhere. We have some regulars who have been coming to us for years. They know we just have the rice and that’s about it. We don't spend money on fancy signs or decorations. There is a small counter where we do the billing and it’s usually covered in little notes and samples of grain. The air smells like raw rice and jute bags. It’s a bit cramped inside when a new shipment arrives, but we manage. My shirt is usually covered in some kind of white dust by lunchtime. We don't do anything special, just keep the shop open and sell what people need for their kitchens. It is a simple way to make a living and we are okay with that. The work is hard but it feels useful at the end of every day.