Last year, the task of getting wheat ground at the local 'chakki' (flour mill) fell to me. Usually, my mom or the maid used to take care of this, but given that everyone was busy with the wedding duties and I had my 'errand girl' hat on, it came to me. Just like the garbage duty, the collect clothes from the laundry duty, the run around and get 'this' from 'that' room/place duty and the little trips to the local 'kirana' store for a packet of some innocuous thing that somebody forgot to bring—all this fell under the purvey of the 'errand girl'.
Going to the flour mill was something I never did. I always managed to excuse my way out of it. Standing there and waiting for your wheat to be ground, and slowly getting dusted in white, chalky powder is not something I fancied, and then there is the carrying of the tin, for which, according to me, exists no way to disguise. Since the flour mill is just a couple of buildings away, we usually walk it out. Carrying a tin of ground wheat ranks quite high in my list of 'not to be seen carrying' along with buckets and brooms. (I have no reason but it's just something I feel 'shy' about lugging out in the open, even if it's brand new!)
So, luckily for me, I didn't have to wait there since he had quite a few other things to grind, the 'chakkiwala' (miller) told me to come after a couple of hours. Such relief! Two hours later, I land up to collect the flour and he tells me he's just about finishing my batch. With nothing to do and no one else around, I decided to click his pics with my mom's phone.
I thought he could not be bothered with me clicking, till (the last pic will show) he dusted a bag of flour in my direction!
Going to the flour mill was something I never did. I always managed to excuse my way out of it. Standing there and waiting for your wheat to be ground, and slowly getting dusted in white, chalky powder is not something I fancied, and then there is the carrying of the tin, for which, according to me, exists no way to disguise. Since the flour mill is just a couple of buildings away, we usually walk it out. Carrying a tin of ground wheat ranks quite high in my list of 'not to be seen carrying' along with buckets and brooms. (I have no reason but it's just something I feel 'shy' about lugging out in the open, even if it's brand new!)
So, luckily for me, I didn't have to wait there since he had quite a few other things to grind, the 'chakkiwala' (miller) told me to come after a couple of hours. Such relief! Two hours later, I land up to collect the flour and he tells me he's just about finishing my batch. With nothing to do and no one else around, I decided to click his pics with my mom's phone.
I thought he could not be bothered with me clicking, till (the last pic will show) he dusted a bag of flour in my direction!
Oh, I don't mind chakki trips. We used to carry the dabba in our arms containing 6 kilos of grain and then flour up and down. Later, we found a sturdy cloth bag to carry it in. Can do brooms and buckets too. I am quite the coolie. :)
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