Shri Laxmi Bhatta Company

If you head over to Village- Bapoli, you will find Shri Laxmi Bhatta Company. We are a small outfit, mostly focused on traditional brick making. The yard is situated where we can get to the clay easily. It’s not the kind of place with a front desk or air conditioning. We spend our days outside near the chimneys. The work is seasonal because of the monsoons. When it rains, we can't really do much with the mud, so we take a break then. But the rest of the year, we are moving pretty fast. We supply to the local villagers and some of the builders in the nearby areas. It’s a basic operation. We have the pits for mixing and the areas where the bricks sit out in the sun to dry before they go into the kiln. It takes a lot of wood and coal to keep the fire going. We have to watch it day and night sometimes. My father used to do this, and now we are still at it. It’s a tough way to make a living, but it’s what we have. We don't spend money on ads or anything like that. People just know we are in Bapoli. If someone needs bricks, they come and talk to us, and we figure out a price. It’s all very informal but we get the job done. We just keep our heads down and keep the fire burning as long as we can.