Gulam Sarwar Rice Mill

Down here in Bardar village, things move a bit slower than in the big towns. Our mill is located right in the village area near the Munderwa post office. When the harvest season starts, the whole place gets incredibly busy with tractors and carts full of paddy lining up. The machines make a lot of noise and the air gets thick with that specific smell of rice being processed. We have a few sheds where we keep the grain dry and away from the rain. It’s a lot of manual work, lifting the heavy bags and making sure the husks are cleared out. We don’t have any fancy technology, just the old reliable equipment that has been running for years. Sometimes a belt breaks and we have to stop everything to fix it, which can take a few hours of sweating over the grease and oil. The floor is always a bit dusty and we usually end the day covered in fine powder. People from the surrounding farms come by to chat while they wait for their grain to be ready. It’s a community thing more than anything else. We’ve stayed in this village for a long time because it’s where the work is. Munderwa is just a short trip away if we need parts or supplies for the engines. It’s honest work and it keeps us busy from sunrise until it gets too dark to see the sacks in the back of the shed. It is quite peaceful once the machines stop.