Fruit Preservation Centre

We spend our days at the Fruit Garden here in Shillong. It is a quiet spot, really. Mostly we are busy with whatever fruit is in season. If there are plums, we deal with plums. When the pineapples come in from the hills, everything gets sticky and sweet smelling. It is a government run place, but it feels more like a big kitchen sometimes. We have been here at this address for a long time. People around the neighborhood know the gates well. We don't do anything too fancy, just the basic work of keeping fruit from going to waste. There is a lot of washing, peeling, and getting things into jars or bottles. The weather here in Shillong can get quite wet, so we spend a lot of time inside the sheds making sure everything stays dry and clean. Sometimes the machines act up or the delivery trucks are late because of the mountain roads, but we just get on with it. It is honest work. You can see the trees right outside the window while we work. We don't spend much money on big signs or anything. We just focus on the harvest and making sure the jars are filled right. It is a steady pace of life. Some of us have been working here for years and we know the routine by heart. It’s just what we do here at the centre.