NOVEL NEXT Chapter 545: Kaak Roti 1
6th July 1658
Sringeri Village, Mangalore District, Vijayanagar State, Akhand Bharatiya Empire
A pair of young men, with unique and exotic features, stood in front of a door within the panchayat with hesitant expressions on their faces. Even though there was no one waiting to enter the room and they could go inside immediately, Matheen and Masthan, the pair of young men who had emigrated from Baluchistan, were still hesitant and nervous about their move.
Unknowingly, it had already been a year since they had emigrated to the Bharatiya Empire, and since then, a lot of things had happened.
For one, they had their first harvest within a few months of their emigration. Selling their harvest, they made some money and were able to expand the land they owned with it. For another, they were lucky enough to meet a few refugees from Lahore. As if by fate, Matheen and Masthan both liked a few women among the refugees, and both chose to marry the women they liked and officially start a family.
Unfortunately, as neither the brides nor bridegrooms had any knowledge about their tribal customs for marriages, they had to settle their marriage the Bharatiya way.
That is, they went to a temple, and the priest, in front of the devotees, pronounced them husband and wife after making the bridegrooms tie a turmeric thread around the wives’ necks with three knots and walking around a campfire seven times.
A few months passed by, and everything was smooth sailing. It was already the time for their second harvest since they entered the empire and the first harvest since they got married. God bless, the harvest was bountiful, and the yield from their plot of land earned them a lot of money, especially since they had already expanded their plot.
The profit they received was actually more than what they earned last time per acre, as they seemed to have caught the good times when grain from the coastal region had increased in price due to it being shipped to the Philippines to help the people there get through the tough times just after the war.
Naturally, Matheen and Masthan did not waste the profits they made but expanded the plot of land once more. Not only that, with this expansion, which almost tripled their previous fields, they could no longer maintain the land themselves.
So, utilizing the money they had saved up for tough times, they immediately employed some people to tend to the farm and also leased the Oxen-powered harvester from the Public Agricultural Initiative of the Bharatiya Empire, which provides harvesters for rent, lease, and sale at an affordable price.
4 months passed by in the blink of an eye
Only a few weeks ago, Matheen and Masthan had the biggest yield of their lives. Not only did the harvester increase the efficiency of harvesting the wheat, but it also decreased the wastage of any crops.
This time, they also introduced the fertilizers they had always been skeptical about, which miraculously increased their production by 30% per acre compared to the last quarter.
The grain was about to be sold, but Matheen suddenly came up with an idea.
---
"Brother Masthan, although the price we get for selling this grain is very good, have you noticed the price of wheat flour in the market is much more expensive than the grain? It’s nearly 10 Varaha for 15 kilograms of flour, while 10 Varaha could buy a whole 30 kilograms of unprocessed wheat from us."
Masthan was suddenly taken aback by this statement. Then he fell into deep thought, remembering the prices of wheat flour and other wheat products he had seen when he went to the market the other day with his wife.
Matheen, seeing how his brother was convinced, continued, "Also, food products made with wheat are sold for a higher cost. As far as I have seen, the cost could go up to nearly 50 Varaha."
Masthan nodded his head in agreement but frowned. "What you said is the truth, but why are you saying this to me? Does it have something to do with us?"
Matheen simply shook his head and answered, "Of course, it has a lot to do with us. Consider this: while selling our produce, instead of selling it directly to the market, what if we process it ourselves for impurities, take it to the mill, and grind it to flour?"
"Would we be able to sell it for a higher price?"
"Also, brother, I’ve got another idea. Don’t we know how to make the kaak roti from our hometown?"
"This is also made with wheat flour, and people around here don’t seem to have tasted our bread."
"What if we use a little portion of the flour and make the rotis that we know? Anyway, we will be without much work for the next four months since we’ve decided to rent the tiller, and we’ll plant some different crop that takes much less maintenance, which would make our life easier and give us a lot more time for ourselves."
"The two of us, Jay Sheila, and sister-in-law together could make all the produce into flour and roti. What do you think?"
Masthan was suddenly shocked. He could have never expected his brother to think so much. Although he and Matheen had firmly decided to rise in the society of the Bharatiya Empire, where there is a ladder of growth, he had never expected his brother to come up with a way so soon.
He himself wanted to take a much more stable approach, where he would first gain a firm foothold in the local region and then try to get wealthier. But hearing his brother’s words, he was suddenly lost in thought.
’It could work, but is it really as simple as Matheen says?’ Masthan was doubtful.
"Matheen, in theory, what you said could work since everyone knows the demand for processed wheat and food products is increasing every month, but we cannot take the risk of completely abandoning the stable foothold we have."
"So let’s do this: 50% of the harvest we’ve gotten this year will be sold to the market as we did the last two times, but for the remaining 50%, we’ll follow your idea."
"Since the plan of making roti and selling it to the public is much riskier than directly selling the flour, let’s only use 10% of the flour to make the roti."
"This way, even if there is a loss and our plan fails, the loss will be recoverable, and we won’t have to worry about the expenses for the next year. What do you think?"
Matheen thought his brother’s plan was too conservative, but he still agreed, considering there wouldn’t be any big loss as his brother said.
----
The brothers Matheen and Masthan immediately contacted the local flour mill and negotiated prices in order to occupy the mill for a few days straight. Additionally, they bought equipment that would be useful in filtering the grain from dust and debris.
Finally, they contacted a jute processing company to buy the jute bags to store the wheat flour.
Everything was going very well, and it was time to make the rotis. However, unexpectedly, the brothers were in for a pleasant surprise.
"I bet these rotis would be delicious with some potato palya!"
Jayashila, the wife of Matheen, suddenly commented, which caught the attention of the three people in the room who were busy roasting rotis.
"What is this potato palya, sister?" Girija, the wife of Masthan, curiously enquired.
Jayashila, seeing how her words got the attention of everyone in the house, decided to make the dish.
Eating the roti with palya, Matheen and Masthan’s eyes immediately lit up.
It was very delicious—more delicious than the gravy they used to eat the roti with.
Then suddenly, Masthan got an idea. He sprinkled some cilantro, some spices, some chopped onions, and garlic, and folded the roti into a roll. In the curious eyes of everyone, he took a bite of the roll, and his senses were immediately blasted with the blend of spices.
" Mhha, delicious! "
A soft moan left his mouth; his face was that of someone who was experiencing great joy.
Matheen became restless while looking at his brother’s expressions. He mirrored what his brother had done, and he was similarly mesmerized by the taste.
The freshness of the onions, cilantro, and spices blended together with the potato palya eaten with the roti, Made the simple bread an exquisite snack.
By the end of the day, the four of them were engrossed in the new dish they had invented, which they called the roti roll.
Matheen and Masthan immediately concluded that they would have to sell this new dish instead of plain roti for a much higher price.
The next day, they went to rent a shopfront in the market at the market administrator’s office, but they were surprised.
"Hey, little brothers! Don’t you know that in order to open a shop in this market, you have to register a company? If you are selling food products, then you would have to get a certificate from the Bharatiya Standards Organization proving that you are making the products in a hygienic and safe manner?"
Hearing this, both Matheen and Masthan were dumbfounded, as they did not know such a rule existed. But thankfully, seeing the clueless expression on their faces, the kind administrator helped them out.
"You don’t have to put on such disappointed faces. The procedure is actually not too hard. As long as you are not deliberately putting something harmful in the product to sell more, the inspectors won’t care much."
"Here, take this form, fill it out, and submit it to the panchayat. With this, you can start your own company and also officially sell your product in the market."
The brothers simply thanked the kind administrator and left.
To be continued...
P.S. I got a fever so the chapter is rushed