Saraswati Rice & General Mills

Village Pona is where we are. It’s a small place and most people know where Saraswati Rice & General Mills is because of the noise the machines make. We’ve been operating here for a good while. The yard is usually dusty and there are always bags piled up high. It’s hard work, especially when the sun is beating down on the tin roof. We start early in the morning, sometimes before the sun is even fully up, just to get a head start on the day’s work. There are a few of us who handle the heavy lifting and the machines. It’s not a glamorous job. Your clothes end up covered in husk by the time lunch rolls around. We eat together under the shade of the big tree out front. The trucks come in through the narrow lane and it’s always a bit of a struggle to get them turned around. Sometimes we have to move stuff out of the way just to make room. The machinery is old but it works fine as long as we keep it greased. It’s just a regular mill in a regular village. We don’t have much to say about ourselves other than we show up and do the work. Rain makes everything a mess, so we try to keep things covered as best as we can. It’s just the way things go around here day after day.