Janki Lal Pawan Kumar

Our spot is at C 176 in the Kotri Bhamasha Krishi Upaj Mandi. It’s a big name for a place that’s basically just a lot of sheds and open space for trucks. We deal with the grains and crops that the farmers bring in. It's a lot of heavy lifting, moving sacks from one place to another. Pawan and I handle most of the daily stuff ourselves. The mandi is always full of noise, tractors idling and people haggling over prices. We don't have a website or any social media stuff. If people want to find Janki Lal Pawan Kumar, they just come to the stall. It's practical work. We spend our days covered in a bit of grain dust and checking the moisture in the piles. The weather is the biggest thing we talk about, wondering if the rain will hold off or if the sun is going to be too hot. We have a small desk where we keep the ledgers, and everything is written down by hand. It’s the way it’s always been done. We don’t see a reason to change it if it still works. Sometimes the days are long, especially during the harvest season when the trucks are lined up out the gate. We just take it one load at a time. It’s not a glamorous job, but it’s an important part of how things move around here in Kota.