Exotica Chocolates

In the middle of Khondhwa, you’ll find our small setup for Exotica Chocolates. It’s not a giant factory or anything like what you see on TV. It’s actually just a few rooms where we do all the mixing and the pouring. The air usually smells like cocoa, which the neighbors seem to like. We have these old metal molds that we use, and they’ve seen better days but they still make the shapes just fine. During the festive seasons, the place gets absolutely chaotic. There are ribbons and wrappers everywhere, and we often stay late into the night just to finish the boxes. My aunt helps with the packaging because she has a better eye for it than I do. We don't have a big sign outside, just a small one near the door. The floor gets a bit sticky if we aren't careful, so we spend a lot of time cleaning up at the end of the shift. It’s mostly manual work, hand-wrapping and checking each piece. We don’t use any high-tech gadgets. We have a small fridge for the finished stuff and a stove that’s been acting up lately. People stop by to ask if we have any scraps they can take, and we usually do. It’s a quiet life in Khondhwa for the most part, except for the chocolate making. We just focus on getting the orders ready and making sure the heat doesn't ruin the batches.