By Madhulika Chaturvedi
Chennai, December 3, 2013 -A step down from the ‘Tirumailai’ MRTS(Mass Rapid Transit System) station, and a raft of shops selling everything on earth- from broomsticks, to illuminating lamps, to dress materials, hand loom bedspreads, spare parts of motor vehicles, cell phones, appear in front of us .Congregation of vehicles in a traffic, and a girl tugging on his father’s shirt on being lured seeing the balloons when a seller crosses her. Lightened up faces of women carrying shopping bags from sari shops, smiles on people’s faces coming out of ‘Sarvana Bhavan’ signalling satisfaction of having spent on a sumptuous meal. Men, women and children with vermilion smeared on their foreheads coming out of the ‘Kapaleeswarar’ temple. Fruit-sellers clamor to passersby, the garland makers vehemently deny the bargaining customers and some clay-doll and idol sellers arrange the misplaced things on their stalls- this, is a scene on an average day in the Mylapore area of Chennai.
A clear sky and festival pulls more people.
However, along with the hustle-bustle around him, Laakeshwar is seen arranging the ground-nuts spread on a worn-out plastic on a stall. The sound of his cough can be distinctively heard even among the other sounds one hears on the street. A sixtyish, dark and stocky man, his ears spring to attention when a man taps on the groundnuts spread on the stall. He wants to some nuts. Laakeshwar mumbles something in Tamil, and his eyes are seen crinkling into a toothless smile when his customer hands out the currency note to him. He counts them, taps his fingers on his forehead then again on his chest, closes his eyes, mumbles something and puts the note into a pouch.
“Past thirty years madam”, says he on being asked about the time he had been selling groundnuts. “I born and brought up in Madras”, he musters up the English language words he knows. He also sells coconut water on a stall beside the groundnut one. However, it is the groundnuts, selling which, he gains immense satisfaction. Its sales coming down in the last few years have disturbed not only him but the three other stalls selling groundnut in the area.
The groundnuts are brought from Pondicherry and the persistent rainfall results the nuts in becoming moist. It easily crumbles between the fingers. In between rise in demand for other essential things for cooking, groundnut sales have come down over the years. Even export has decreased. No buys in bulk anymore. Mylapore, in Chennai is one the few places where groundnuts are sold.
“It is difficult to sustain a livelihood with these sales”, said another seller. It was 2 p.m. and she had had just two customers till then. They are all seen with a similar expression on their faces that reveal their despair in failure of sustaining livelihood based on selling groundnuts.
They wait for festivals, for it is then that the street is crowded and people notice the groundnuts. “Earlier, people came looking for groundnuts, and now, we look for people to buy them”, said Laakeshwar, his tone reeking of disappointment.
They are seen excited about the ‘Kadlekai parishe’ festival in Bengaluru, where mounds of groundnuts are sold in a fair and look forward to setting up stalls there. People turn out in that fair in a large number, and groundnuts sold there in three days is more than the average sold here in a month. “It is a big fair there!” exclaims Gayathri amma, another seller. They regret such fair not taking place in Chennai.
However, as the day ends, and the street lamps and big shops illuminates with lights, the groundnut sellers refill their oil-lamps and light them.
The vehicles ply double in number, and bell-rings from the temple echo in the area. People again are seen in and out of shops and eateries, with packets in their hands and smile on their faces. The faces where the smile gives a miss are the ones adjusting their oil-lamps, mixing the nuts, checking if they crumble easily, removing the ones that do with hopeful eyes searching for buyers.
Water 