Bhawani Spice

The smell of spices is the first thing you notice when you get near Tajpur Ratanpur. It sticks to your clothes and follows you home. We are located right near the Ratanpur Primary School, and sometimes you can hear the kids playing during their break while we are working. At Bhawani Spice, the days are mostly spent sorting through raw ingredients and making sure everything is clean. It’s physical work. We have sacks of chillies, turmeric, and coriander piled up against the walls. It’s not a sterile factory; it’s a local operation where things are done by hand a lot of the time. The floors are often covered in a fine dust of whatever we are processing that day. My eyes sting a bit when we handle the hot peppers, but you get used to it after a few years. We don't spend money on shiny packaging or big ads. People around here know us because they can smell what we’re doing from down the road. We just try to keep the quality steady so people don’t complain. The machines we use are old and loud, and they need a lot of oiling to keep them from rattling too much. When the monsoon comes, we have to be extra careful about the moisture in the air. It’s a constant battle to keep things dry. We just take it one day at a time, making sure the jars are filled and the bags are tied shut.