Bazi Baba Rice Mill

We are out here in Yelchuru Village, which is part of Srikakulam. The Bazi Baba Rice Mill is a place where we spend most of our daylight hours. It isn't a fancy setup. We have the heavy hulling machines that make a lot of racket when they are running. Farmers from around the village bring their paddy in trailers and carts. We weigh the sacks on the old scale and get to work. Srikakulam gets really hot in the summer months so the shed feels like an oven sometimes. We drink a lot of water and keep the fans going. The floor is usually covered in a layer of fine dust from the husks. That is just how it is. My brother and a few local guys handle the loading. We don't have a website or anything like that. People just know where we are. Sometimes the power goes out for hours and we have to just sit outside and wait for it to come back on. It is a slow way of living but it keeps us busy. We see the same faces every season. The harvest time is the most hectic for us. We work late into the evening then. The smell of raw rice is something you get used to after a few days. We just try to get the milling done right so the families have their food. It is basic work but it is ours. The machinery needs oiling every few days to keep it from grinding to a halt.