Konda Masale

If you look for us in Sakhar Peth, you’ll find us right at Ashok Chowk, not too far from Walchand College. Being near a college means there are always students walking by, but most of our actual business comes from the families living around here. We make and sell masalas, so the sound of the grinders is pretty much the soundtrack to our day. It’s a noisy process, and the air gets quite spicy, which can be tough on the eyes if you aren’t used to it. We don’t have a big corporate office or anything like that. Our workspace is right there behind the counter where all the mixing happens. The stone floors are old, and the walls have a few stains from years of work, but it’s a clean enough place for making food. We spend a lot of our time making sure the proportions are right so the masala tastes the way people expect it to. We don't use any fancy marketing tricks. People know us because they can smell the roasted spices from down the street. It’s a small, hands-on operation where we do most things ourselves. Sometimes the line gets a bit long on Saturday mornings, and we have to work fast to keep everyone happy. We like being part of the Sakhar Peth community and just doing this one thing as well as we can.