Mamta Bricks

Our yard is situated right on National Highway 74, near the NTPC office in Deoria Village. Being by the highway means there is a constant sound of trucks and cars zooming past all day. Kanti House is the main landmark here if you are looking for us. We spend most of our time out in the sun near the kilns. It is hot work, especially during the summer months when the air feels like a furnace. The red bricks are stacked up in high rows across the lot. We have been here for a good while now, just working the land and making bricks from the local clay. There is always a layer of red dust on everything, including the tea cups in the afternoon. People from the village come by on their cycles to check prices or order a load. We do not have a website or anything like that. It is all face-to-face talk here. Sometimes the weather plays tricks on us and ruins a batch of drying bricks, which is frustrating but part of the life. We just keep the fire going and the workers busy. It is a noisy place because of the traffic and the tractor engines. We usually wrap things up when the light starts to fade over the fields. It is just honest work under the open sky near the big road.