Rila Jaggery

Our place is located at 47, Perumal Puthur Road, which is right in Neikarapatti. If you know the area, it’s not too hard to find. We spend most of our time dealing with jaggery. It is a sticky, sweet business but someone has to do it. The smells around the shop are always strong, especially when things are moving fast. We aren't trying to be some massive corporation. It is just a local operation where we handle the product and make sure it gets where it needs to go. We see a lot of the same faces coming by. That’s the nice thing about being on Perumal Puthur Road for so long. You get to know the neighbors. The work can be physically tiring because of the weight of the blocks, and the heat in the summer doesn't help much. We just focus on the daily tasks. We don't have a fancy website or a marketing team. It’s mostly just word of mouth and people seeing us when they drive through Neikarapatti. Sometimes the supply is plenty and other times we have to wait on the harvest. That is just the nature of working with something like jaggery. We keep the floor as clean as we can, though it's a constant battle with the sugar. It’s an honest way to make a living and we’ve been at it for a good bit now. We just take things as they come and try to get the work finished.