E R D Star Masala

Our little setup is at No 6 in the K M N Complex. If you are on Karur Road, we are right across from the Ashram School in Kollampalayam. You can hear the kids playing during their breaks, which kind of breaks up the quiet of the morning. We spend most of our time with the masalas, dealing with the bags of spices that come in and out. It’s a small space, so things can get a bit tight when we have a lot of stock. We don’t have a big team or anything, just a few of us making sure the bags are filled and the shelves are okay. The air always smells like cumin and coriander, which hangs around even after we close up for the day. Sometimes the traffic on Karur Road gets backed up, and we just watch the cars crawl by from the front door. We’ve been in this complex for a good bit now, and the neighbors are all familiar faces. It’s not the kind of place you’d find in a big city mall, but it works for what we do. We don’t really do much advertising or anything like that. People just know we are here opposite the school. We keep the floor swept and try to stay on top of things as they come. It's a lot of manual work, lifting and packing, but it keeps us busy and the days go by pretty fast when there is plenty to do.