R. K. Spices

We are located over at 66, Kuthuparamba in Kottayam Malabar. It’s been our base for quite some time now. Dealing with spices means everything smells like pepper and cardamom all day long. You get used to it after a week or so, but visitors always sneeze when they walk in. We spend a lot of time drying things out and making sure the quality is okay before we pack them. It’s a lot of manual work, honestly. We don't have those big automatic machines you see on TV. It’s mostly just us using our hands and small grinders. The building isn't much to look at, just a regular place on the street. Sometimes the rain in Malabar makes things difficult, especially when we need to keep things dry. We have to rush and cover everything up. My uncle started this and now we just keep it going. It’s a steady job. We know the local farmers who bring us the bags of raw spices. We sit down, have some tea, and talk about the harvest. That's how it goes here. We don't do much advertising. People just know where we are if they need something for their kitchen. It’s a simple way to make a living. We just keep the floors swept and the bags stacked up high. The work is repetitive but there’s a rhythm to it that we like after all these years of doing it.