Khushi Ram Cement Co.

Khushi Ram Cement Co. is out on Jakhal Road, in Duttal Village. We are right near the Public Girl School in the Patran Tehsil area. It's a dusty stretch of road. The cement bags are heavy and they leave a white film on everything in the shop. My clothes always look gray by the time I go home to my family at night. We’ve got a small warehouse where we stack the bags high. You have to be careful how you stack them so they don't get damp from the floor when it rains. We get a lot of tractors pulling up to buy a few bags at a time for local work. The kids from the school walk past every morning and afternoon. It’s a loud place when the big trucks are unloading. I usually have a pencil behind my ear to mark the tallies in my book. We don't have fancy computers, just a big paper ledger that’s seen better days. The tea man comes around at eleven. We talk to the local builders who come in to complain about the heat or the price of fuel. It’s just life in a village. We've been here for years, and most people know us by name. We don't do anything special, just sell cement and try to keep the rain out of the storage area. It's a living, and it keeps us busy enough throughout the week.