Sri Venkateshwara Dal Mills

My family has been operating the Sri Venkateshwara Dal Mills for years now. We are tucked away at Door Number 8-45 in Muppalla Village. If you know the Chandarlapadu Mandal in Krishna District, you probably know where we are. Life in the village is quiet, except for when the machines are running. The mill makes a lot of noise and sends up a bit of dust from the husks, but that’s the sound of work getting done. We take the raw pulses brought in by local farmers and process them so they are ready for cooking. It’s a lot of lifting heavy sacks and making sure the machines are oiled properly. Sometimes a belt breaks, and we have to wait for someone from the town to come and fix it, which slows everything down. The shed where we work is quite large, with high ceilings to keep it a bit cooler, though it still gets stuffy in the afternoon heat. We don't have a big office or anything like that. I usually just sit at a small wooden desk near the entrance to keep track of the bags coming in and going out. It’s honest work, and it’s important for the village economy here in Muppalla. We deal mostly with people we’ve known our whole lives. Every season is different depending on the harvest, so we just take things as they come.