Somnath Flour Mill

The mill is tucked away in Bazar Peth, right near the PDC Bank here in Chakaman. It’s a spot most folks know because of the constant hum of the grinders. If you walk by in the morning, you’ll see the dust already starting to settle on the windows. We spend a lot of time just keeping the machines oiled and the bags stacked up. It isn't a quiet place by any means. When the power is on and the grain is feeding through, you can’t hear much else. People bring their grain from the surrounding fields and wait their turn. Sometimes there is a line, sometimes it is just one or two people chatting by the door. The weather affects how busy we get. If it is pouring rain, nobody wants to get their flour wet, so we just sit and wait it out. The floor stays white with flour dust no matter how much we sweep. It’s just the way it is here. We’ve seen kids grow up coming here with their parents. Now those kids bring their own grain. The building itself has seen better days, maybe needs a bit of paint, but the machinery inside does its job. We don’t have fancy signs or anything like that. Just the name Somnath Flour Mill and the sound of the work. Most days go by pretty fast once we get started. It’s honest labor and it keeps us busy from sunrise to the time we close the shutters for the night.