Birla White Ltd.

Down in Rajshree Nagar, over in Kharia Khangar, you’ll find the Birla White Ltd. site. It’s a pretty large operation compared to some of the smaller stone shops you see nearby. We mostly deal with white cement and other related building materials. The whole place has a white tint to it because of the very fine powder. It gets everywhere—on our clothes, the equipment, and even the trees growing nearby. We have a lot of people working here in different shifts throughout the day and night. It’s a 24-hour kind of place sometimes. The trucks come in empty and leave full of heavy bags. We spend a lot of our time monitoring the machines and making sure the packing line doesn't get jammed up. It’s not the quietest place to work, but you get used to the constant hum of the factory. We have a small canteen where we grab a quick bite and talk about things other than work. The heat in Kharia Khangar can be pretty intense during the summer months, so we all drink a lot of water. We’ve got a gatehouse where everyone checks in and out. It feels like a little community because so many of us live in the nearby houses. We don't really do much fancy talk here. We just focus on getting the bags filled and moved out to the trucks. It is just a busy, dusty site.