Maa Sheetla Bricks Factory

You will find us in the village of Jiginiya, which is under the Indergarh Tehsil in Datia district. It’s a bit of a trek to get out here if you aren’t from around the village. Maa Sheetla Bricks Factory is basically a seasonal operation because that is just the way brick making works in this part of the country. When the sun is hot, we are busy, and when the monsoon starts, everything pretty much grinds to a halt. We live and work right here, so there is no real gap between our home life and the factory. The ground is always covered in clay and there are piles of wood and coal for the kilns scattered around. It’s quiet out here compared to the city, but the work is much more physical. We have people from the village helping us out and everyone knows everyone else’s business. We don't have a website or anything like that, just our name on a board and the stacks of bricks that people can see from the road. Sometimes the dust is a bit much, but you get used to it after a few years. It’s honest work that depends a lot on the weather and the soil we dig up. We just focus on getting the rows of bricks dry enough to fire. It is a slow process, but we have been doing it this way for a long time now in Jiginiya.