Occupation: Vendor of food products
I was able to meet you here at Ramapuram compound, near Chempakassery junction since I have a lot of customers there. Most of them place their orders in advance over phone. For instance, take this house - they wanted tapioca appalam, narthanga and gooseberry pickles, manathakkali vattal, thairu mulaku and ginger candy.
As you can see, there are six cloth bags on my bicycle. I sell pickles, some 20 to 25 varieties. In addition to the usual pickles of mango, ginger, garlic and gooseberry, I have tomato and onion pickles and puliyodara and vathakuzhambu mix.
There is great demand for appalams. I have four varieties with me- rice, black gram, tapioca and chilli in addition to the usual pappadam. Vattal varieties also have plenty of takers. There are rice, chundanga, bittergourd, manathakkali, thamarathandu or lotus stem and thairu mulaku vattals. I also sell savouries.
These products are bought from different places, most of them from Thirunelveli and Kallidaikurichi in Tamil Nadu. Some savouries come from Chennai, Madurai and Palakkad as well. On weekends, I get halwa and mixture - the soft, less-spicy variety- from Thirunelveli. Then there are seasonal products such as veppilakatti that I stock.
As you can see, I am a door-to-door vendor. It’s been over a decade since I have been doing this business. My native place is Ambasamudram in Tamil Nadu. For nearly 15 years, I worked as a salesman with a reputed textile shop in Ernakulam, my first job. As my wife is from Marthandam, we relocated to the city after our marriage and I started working in a textile shop here. Since it was not enough for a family, I started moonlighting by selling food products along with two of my friends. Now I am on my own, as one of my friends left for Tamil Nadu and the other one is selling puffs.
Until last month, I used to work as salesman in a textile shop after winding up this job by 10 a.m. But now I am concentrating on selling these items. Even then I finish the work before 11 a.m. and supplement my income by making garlands for shops in Chala flower market. I take flowers in huge quantities to my home at Power House Road. Along with my wife, Nagalakshmi, we make garlands and hand them over to the shops by evening. On Sundays I work full day because that is when working couples are at home and I can sell more items.
I usually take the bus to Thirunelveli with my wife to replenish my stock. There is no fixed day as such. Sometimes we take our two sons, Gowtham and Bharshath, along. But if I have to get sweets, I travel at night by train.
The eats are mostly bought by Brahmin households in Karamana, Valiyasala, Sreevaraham, Puthen Street, Padma Nagar... I have built a strong clientele over the years through word-of-mouth publicity. It was difficult initially because they were not sure about the quality of the products I sold. However my customer base is increasing now. I am at their beck and call and have even supplied products at night.
From selling these products on foot, I have now progressed to a bicycle. I am 42 now and life is moving at a smooth pace. But there are days when we find it difficult to bring the products from Thirunelveli. The heavy bags are difficult to transport. I want to expand the business but it won’t be possible in the near future. So till then I will continue being a door-to-door vendor.
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
