Gadwal Paneer Bhandar

The morning starts really early for us at G-101 in the Greater Noida Comml Belt. Usually, the milk truck arrives when it is still dark outside. We spend the first few hours just getting the vats ready. Making paneer is a messy job, there is water everywhere and the steam makes the walls damp. It’s hard work on the arms when you have to press the weight down to get the water out. By the time the sun is up, we have the blocks ready on the counter. People from the nearby flats come in for their daily packets. Sometimes we run out of dahi by noon if the weather is especially hot. The shop isn’t very big, just enough space for the fridge and the cutting table. We try to keep things moving fast so people aren't waiting in the heat. There’s a lot of cleaning to do every single hour because milk spills are the worst if you leave them. My nephew helps out with the deliveries when he isn't at his classes. We don't really use a computer for the accounts, just a thick ledger and a pen that we keep tied to the desk so it doesn't go missing. It gets noisy with the traffic from the main belt, but you get used to it after a week. It’s a simple life selling dairy, honestly. We just focus on getting the fresh batches out before the lunch rush hits.