Star Vegetables

Out here on Pollachi Road in Kozhinjampara, things start pretty early. Most people are still sleeping when the first trucks pull up. We are right on the main stretch, so it's easy to find us, but there's always a bit of dust flying around from the road. The ground is usually covered in bits of cabbage leaves or onion skins. It’s just how it goes with vegetables. We don't have fancy displays or cooling systems that look like a supermarket. It’s more about crates being stacked on top of each other. Some days it’s really hot, and we have to move stuff into the shade fast. The guys working here have been doing this for years, so they know which sacks are heavy and which ones aren't. We talk to the drivers a lot about the weather and how the crops are looking. Kozhinjampara isn't a huge place, so you see the same people every day. We don't spend money on advertising or anything. We just open the doors and start sorting. Sometimes the tomatoes are a bit bruised, so we have to pick through them one by one. It’s tedious work but someone has to do it. By the time the sun goes down, we’re usually pretty tired and covered in dirt. We just lock up and head home to do it all again tomorrow.