Vijayalaxmi Flour Mill

If you walk down Centre St in Camp, you’ll find us at Shop No. 490. It’s a tight space but it works for what we do. The area is always crowded with people shopping for clothes or food. We open up the shutters around nine in the morning. Usually, there's already someone waiting with a sack of grain on their scooter. The air smells like toasted grain most of the time. It’s a bit noisy because the old motors have a mind of their own. We’ve been in this spot for years. The walls could use a fresh coat of paint but the machines are what matter. We spend a lot of time cleaning out the hoppers. My cousin helps out when it gets really busy during the festival seasons. You see everyone from the neighborhood here. Sometimes people just stop to chat for a minute while their flour is being bagged. We don't do much advertising. The shop sign is a bit faded from the sun. It's just a regular place where work gets done day after day. Sometimes the fan doesn't work well and it gets quite stuffy. We keep a ledger on the wooden desk for the regular customers who pay at the end of the month. It's a simple life, grinding grain and making sure the texture is just how the families like it for their rotis. We stay until the last bag is finished and the street starts to quiet down.