Parineeta Masale

Our little shop is located right at Survey No.13/2, which is part of the Sai Shradha Apartment complex on Nda Road. It’s a bit of a busy area, but we like being right where people live. We mostly deal with masalas, and the smell of roasted cumin and coriander usually fills up the hallway. We started this because we wanted to do something local. It isn't a factory with hundreds of workers. It’s just a few of us making sure the spices are cleaned and ground properly. We spend a lot of time hand-picking the bad bits out of the piles before they go into the mill. Sometimes the neighbors complain about the sneezing when we grind the red chillies, but they usually understand. We don't have a big fancy office. We usually just sit around the packing table to talk about what needs to be done. Our bags are simple, and we write the dates on them ourselves sometimes. It’s honest work that keeps us busy from morning until the sun goes down. People from the apartments often drop by just to see what’s fresh today. We don't really do much advertising because we're too busy with the actual grinding and packing. It’s a small operation, and we like it that way. We just focus on one batch at a time and hope the electricity stays on so we can finish the work on time.