Balaji Rice Mill

Down here on Kota Road in Baran, we’ve got our rice mill running pretty much every day. We are located right near the railway bridge, so you can always hear the trains passing by while we work. It’s a familiar sound to all of us now. The mill has been part of the Baran landscape for some time. We handle a lot of grain coming in from the local fields. It’s dusty work, and during the harvest season, the trucks are lined up all the way down the road. We spend most of our time checking the machines and making sure the rice is coming out right. It’s not a quiet place, between the milling equipment and the traffic outside, but it’s home for us. Sometimes the power goes out or a belt breaks, and we have to spend the afternoon fixing things ourselves. That’s just part of running a mill in this area. We don't have a big office or anything, just a small space to sit and have tea while we wait for the next load. The guys here have been doing this for a long time, so they know the machines inside out. We just try to keep things simple and get the bags filled and stacked. It’s hard work, especially in the summer heat, but we’re used to it. The railway bridge is a good landmark for people trying to find us. We just keep going day by day.