Sulthan Pindi Girni

The sound of the grinding machine is what you hear first when you get near house 1-67 in Gundenga. We have been running this flour mill for quite a while now. It’s a dusty place because the flour gets everywhere, on the walls, the floor, and our clothes. People bring their sacks of wheat or chillies and wait while the machine turns it into powder. It gets very loud inside and you have to shout to be heard over the motor. We spend a lot of time cleaning the stones and making sure the belts are tight. It’s not a fancy business, just a small room with a heavy machine and a scale. Sometimes the power goes out and everything stops, then we just sit on the bench and wait with the customers. Gudur is a small place so we know most of the people who come in. They bring news from the village while they wait. We don't have any big advertisements or anything like that. The bags are heavy to lift and the air is always thick with the smell of ground grain. It makes you sneeze sometimes. We just focus on getting the grinding done right so the flour is smooth. It’s a basic job that needs doing every day. We open early and close when the last person leaves with their bag. There is always a layer of white dust on the windows.