Amman Bricks

Our place is on Kannagi Street, specifically at number 3/161. If you know Jagir Ammapalayam well, you probably already know the area we are in. We make bricks here. To be completely honest, it is very dirty and dusty work. There is dust on everything, and the kilns get incredibly hot during the summer months. We’ve been at this for a good few years now. It is mostly a family kind of thing. My cousin helps out with the books and we have a few local guys who handle the heavy lifting and the molding. The clay comes in, we mold it by hand, and then it goes into the fire. It is a slow process that takes a lot of patience. You simply cannot rush a good brick or they just crumble later when people are trying to build with them. We sell mostly to people who are building houses nearby in the neighborhood. Sometimes a truck comes from further away if they need a specific batch. The yard is usually full of tall stacks. We try to keep the counts right but when it rains, everything just slows right down. That's just how it is when you work with bricks and mud. You can't really fight the weather. We stay busy enough throughout the year. The street is usually quiet except for when the heavy trucks are moving. We don’t have a fancy office at all. Just a small room with a simple desk.