Hindustan Detergent Ind.

Our place is over at Plot 25 on Road 3 in Sobhana Colony. If you know Balanagar, you know it can get a bit crowded, especially around the industrial patches. We spend most of our hours here making detergents. It’s a lot of mixing and packing, and the air always smells like lemon or whatever scent we’re using that week. Most of the people working here have been with us for years, so we all know the routine by heart now. We aren't a giant factory with robots; it’s mostly manual work and simple machinery that we’ve had for a while. The floor usually has some powder on it no matter how much we sweep. We keep the shutters open for the breeze, but when it rains, we have to hurry to keep the raw materials dry. We don't have a marketing team or people in suits walking around. Usually, someone is just sitting by the gate checking the bags as they get loaded onto the small tempos. Lunch is usually eaten together in the small corner we cleared out near the back. It’s a noisy, busy life in Balanagar but it’s what we do. We just focus on getting the soap powder into the packets and making sure the counts are right before the day ends. It’s simple work for regular people. We don't try to make it sound more complicated than it really is because it isn't.