Rajlaxmi Sev Bhandhar

Bhilodia is a quiet place most of the time, and our shop is just a part of the daily scene here. We make sev and other snacks. The smell of frying oil is something you never really get out of your hair. We wake up early to start the first batch because the oil takes time to heat up in the big iron kadai. We use a lot of besan and spices that we get from the local market. There is no machine doing the work; we use our hands and the traditional metal presses. It is hot work standing over the stove all day. We put the finished sev in big plastic bags and stack them on the shelves. People come in for a few grams or a whole kilo depending on what they are doing at home. We know most of our customers by name since they have lived here forever. The shop floor is just plain cement. We don't have any fancy displays. The jars on the counter are old glass ones that have been here since we started. Sometimes we sit outside on a wooden stool when there are no customers. It is a slow life but it is ours. We don't try to make anything too complicated. If the sev is crunchy and the spice is right, people are happy. We just keep the fire going and keep frying.