Suri Rice Mills

Suri Rice Mills is easy to find because we are right near Station Mall. The sound of the trains is something you just get used to after a week of working here. It’s a noisy, busy part of town, but that’s good for business. We do the actual milling on site, so there’s always the vibration of the motors running through the floor. It’s a bit of an old building, and it has that smell of grease and toasted grain that stays on your clothes long after you go home. We don't have a marketing team or any polished brochures. We just talk to the people who come to the gate. Our crew is small, mostly guys from the neighborhood who have been with us for a decade or more. We know each other's families and problems. When a machine breaks down, we all get our hands dirty trying to fix it instead of calling some expensive technician. We have a small area out back where we dry the grain when the sun is out. If we see a cloud, we all drop what we are doing to pull the tarps over. It’s a lot of running around. The office is just a cluttered room with a ceiling fan that squeaks every time it rotates. We sit there and count the bags and drink tea. It’s honest work and it keeps us going.