Khalil Tandur & Nan Wale

You can find us in Toli Mohalla, right there in front of Hamza Masjid in Ghaziabad. We open up early to get the tandoor going because it takes a while to reach the right temperature. My hands have been covered in flour for as long as I can remember. It’s a simple life making nan and roti for the people in the neighborhood. Some folks come by every single day on their way home from work. They just want something hot to eat with their dinner. The smoke from the wood can get a bit thick in the afternoons but that’s just how it goes with a real tandoor. We don’t use any of those modern electric ovens here. It’s all traditional. Sometimes we run out of dough if the crowd is too big, but we try to keep up. The kids around here know the smell of our bread from a block away. We aren't doing anything fancy or trying to win any awards. We just want to make sure the bread is soft and has those nice charred spots on it. If you are near the masjid, you’ll see the fire going. It’s just Khalil and the boys working the ovens. We’ve been at this for years and plan to stay right here in 201001 for a lot more. It is a noisy street but we are used to it.