Honey Sweets

The smell of sugar and frying oil starts pretty early here in Jindal Nagar. We open up and start getting the trays ready before most people are even awake. It’s a lot of stirring big pots and making sure the milk doesn’t burn at the bottom. Being in Ambedkar Nagar means we see the same faces every morning coming in for a bit of something sweet or maybe some samosas if the oil is hot enough. We don't really do anything complicated, just the usual stuff that people like to take home for their kids or for a small function. The floor can get a bit sticky by the afternoon no matter how much we clean it, that's just how it is when you work with syrup all day. We have the glass counters filled with different colors of barfi and laddoos. Sometimes a tray sells out in an hour, and other times we have plenty left when the sun goes down. People stand outside and talk while they eat, and it creates a nice bit of noise. We don't have fancy packaging or anything, just the cardboard boxes and some thin paper. It’s hard work standing on your feet all day near the heat of the stoves, but seeing a kid's face when they get a piece of candy makes it okay. We just keep making the batches as they are needed.