Sripala Brick Field

Sripala Brick Field is situated out in the village of Dholakpur. To get here, you have to go through Post Pandua in the Hooghly district. It’s a rural area, mostly fields and small houses. We have a large space where we set up our brick-making operation. It’s a lot of manual work, from digging the clay to setting the bricks out to dry in the sun. We are a local business through and through. Most of the people you see working here live within walking distance of the field. We don't have any big corporate signs or fancy offices. Just a small shack where we keep the records and a lot of open ground. Hooghly has a lot of demand for building materials, so we stay pretty busy throughout the year. The rainy season is always a challenge because the bricks won't dry, so we have to plan around the weather. It is a tough life, but we like the work. People from Dholakpur and Pandua know we are here if they need a few thousand bricks for a new wall or a house. We don't do much in the way of selling; we just produce and let people come to us. The atmosphere is very informal. You might see us having tea by the road when the work is done for the day. It’s just how we do things at Sripala Brick Field. We’ve been here for years and we don’t plan on changing.