The early morning visit into sweet factory at Sangarmal is a very sweet- smelling experience. The shelves are filled with freshly made Kaju Barfi, Rosgullas, and many other mouth watering sweets. With few days left to Eid, Ram Prasad and his team has already baked their way through several sacks of flours.
These days their day starts at 7 in the morning. The first thing they do is sanitize the kitchen area, and then starts the preparation of making ingredients. From making the dough and then splitting it and kneading it in rounds preparation for making sweets has begun.
“This is hectic these days because Eid is coming. We have to make sweets in bulk and supply to different confectionary shops, so we work for like more than 12 hours a day,” says an employee at the sweet factory.
The sweet factory supplies sweets to over 10 bakery and confectionary shops.
For the entire night the preparation for making sweets andother bakery items go on and any glitch would turn the hard work intoashes.
“We don’t get the time to rest. From last couple of days the work has been more of Eid. There is a lot of demand from the market, so we have to work extra hours,” an employee said who has been into the business from last three years.
It is, he continues, “only on Eids that we have so muchrush. Otherwise, we take rest for 4-5 hours a day.”
As the sweets are ready to be packed, the head of the sweet factory along with a team of five are putting the sweets into the boxes and shifting them in the car so that they are delivered on time.
“From today till Arfawe won’t be having any sleep, because the work load will be double. Last nightwe made 9 quintal Rosgullas, and this year we are anticipating bigger orders,”he said.
In the run-up to the Eid-ul-Fitr, markets in Kashmir arewearing a festive look. At the confectionary shops, people are pre-orderingcakes, pastries and sweets for the festival.
“Apart from making regular sweets, we are also making sweets on orders. Everyone enjoys the sweets, but no one knows who makes them,” the employee said with a smile.