Kathrin Oil Mill

Our mill is located at number 5 in Vadugapatti Village, which is part of the Viralimalai Taluk in Pudukottai District. It’s a very rural spot, surrounded by fields and a lot of open space. Working in a village mill is different from the city because everyone knows whose seeds are being pressed at any given time. The machinery is old and makes a lot of noise, rhythmic thumping that you can hear even before you reach the gate. We get quite messy here, as the oil tends to get on everything, from the floor to our clothes. We spend our days handling the groundnuts or whatever else is brought in. It’s hot work, especially when the sun is beating down on the tin roof of the shed. We don’t have fancy cooling systems, just the wind blowing through the open sides of the building. People from all over Vadugapatti bring their harvests to us. We sit and talk while the machines do their work, usually about the rain or how the crops are looking this year. It’s a slow pace of life but the work itself is heavy and tiring. By the end of the day, we are usually covered in dust and oil, ready to head home and get cleaned up. It’s just how things have been done in this part of Pudukottai for a long time now, and we just keep it going one bag at a time.