General Attachakki

You will find us on Raj Hospital Road in the Jharia area of Dhanbad. This place is a bit different from a standard shop because we operate as a General Attachakki. A large portion of our day is dedicated to grinding various grains into fresh flour for our customers. The heavy machine makes a constant humming noise that you can hear from the street. Because of all the grinding, a fine layer of white flour dust covers almost every surface in the shop, no matter how many times we sweep it up. It is loud and physically demanding work, but it is important since people rely on us for the flour they use to make their daily rotis. Along with the milling, we keep some general grocery items like salt and spices on hand. Usually, if someone is here to get their wheat ground, they will pick up a few other kitchen essentials at the same time. Since we are on the Main Road Jharia, there is always a lot of noise from passing trucks and motorcycles. The shop gets quite hot when the machines are running, so we keep the front wide open to catch any breeze. By the end of the day, our clothes are usually white from the flour. We spend our time talking to the local families who bring their grain in big sacks. We weigh it, mill it, and pack it back up for them. It’s a dusty and loud life, but it’s what we do.