Abu Jaggary

Our little setup is located at Number 10 on Mariyamman Kovil Street. It’s a quiet part of Karadichithur, at least until we start the machinery in the morning. We are quite close to the temple, so we see people passing by all the time while we are busy with the vats. Working with jaggery in Kallakkurichi means you have to get used to the heat. We spend most of our hours standing over the boiling juice, making sure nothing burns or overflows. It is a messy process, and there is always something to clean up, whether it’s the sap on the floor or the ash from the furnace. We don't have a big corporate team; it’s just us and a few helpers who know the ropes. We get the raw cane from nearby farms and start the crushing right away so it stays fresh. Every batch is a bit different depending on the soil and the rain that year, but we just handle it as it comes. We pour the hot liquid into the moulds and wait for it to harden into those familiar blocks. It takes a lot of patience to wait for it to cool down enough to pack. There are no fancy signs or big advertisements here, just the sound of the work and the smell of the sugar in the air every single day while the neighborhood goes about its business.