M/S. Ahluwalia Contracts India Ltd.

If you’re driving on the Jharsuguda-Kuchinda Road in Orissa, you might pass by where we set up. M/S. Ahluwalia Contracts India Ltd. is located right there, which is convenient because it’s a main artery for moving stuff around this part of the state. It gets incredibly dusty out here, and the sun really beats down on the sites during the afternoon. We don’t have a flashy office with air conditioning that actually works all the time. Instead, we have a practical space where the site managers and the foremen meet up to talk about the day’s progress. The work is hard and the hours are long, especially when we’re trying to beat the monsoon rains. Everyone here is pretty straightforward. There’s no point in using big words when you’re just trying to get a load of gravel delivered on time. We deal with local laborers and suppliers from around the Jharsuguda area. It’s a lot of back-and-forth communication. Sometimes the machines break down or the weather ruins a day’s work, and we just have to figure it out as we go. We aren’t trying to be the biggest or the fanciest, we just want to make sure the projects we take on actually get finished. It’s honest work, and it keeps us busy from sunrise until late in the evening most days of the week. It is just the way we do things here.