Surya Masala Co

If you walk down Fatehpuri Katra Baryan Road, you will eventually find us at number 6410. The air around here is always thick with the smell of ground chilies and turmeric. It makes everyone sneeze, but we are used to it by now. We spend our days weighing out spices into small and large bags. The machines in the back are always humming, grinding down whole spices into fine powders. This area of Fatehpuri is very old and the streets are narrow, so getting the sacks of raw materials in is always a bit of a struggle. We have been doing this for a long time, and the wooden counters are worn smooth from years of use. It is a very traditional setup. We don't use fancy packaging or anything, just plain bags that do the job. My clothes always smell like cumin and cardamom when I go home at night. Customers come from all over the city because they know this part of the market is where the real stuff is kept. We have different bins for everything, and sometimes we are busy just sorting through the whole peppercorns or dried coriander. It is a lot of manual labor, but it is what we know. The shop stays open late as long as there are people in the Katra. It is just a part of the daily life on Baryan Road for us.