Madam, there is nothing left behind. So I can’t offer you a glass of vegetable juice. Today is a sunny day, so we had plenty of customers. Ever since my elder brother Vaishakh K. set up this stall eight years ago, we have had no dearth of customers. Most of them are walkers who come to the Museum ground or Kanakakkunnu Palace ground for their morning walk. Since our stall is just outside the gates of Kanakakkunnu, it is convenient for them to stop and take a breather while we make the juice of their choice.
Carrots, beets, cucumber, ash gourd, leafy vegetables, beans, Bilimbi (pulinchika), Thavizhama (pigweed) ... are blended together or separately to make the health drink. It is all vegetables and herbs; we don’t use any artificial flavours. A twist of lime, green chilli or rock salt is used to add zing to the drink. All these vegetables are full of nutrients and have medicinal values too. So people who have diabetes ask for juice of cucumber and ash gourd while those with high blood pressure go for amarakka and Bilimbi juice. Instead of common salt, we use rock salt for their drinks.
Over the years, we have had several celebrity customers, including politicians and senior bureaucrats. For instance, Vijayan sir [former city police commissioner] and Ayyappan sir [former district collector] were our regulars. Ayyappan sir would call us and let us know when he had almost finished his walk. By the time he reached here, the juice would be ready.
Since I have been helping my elder brother to run the stall since my school days, I had no hassles in stepping in when he got a job and had to leave. Once I completed by engineering from Marian College of Engineering, I worked as an apprentice at Kerala State Electricity Board. After the contract got over, I began helping my brother run the stall. Chettan goes at 5 a.m. to the Chala bazaar to buy the vegetables. Then we wash the vegetables and come here from our house at Nandavanam. My father is a daily wages labourer and also drives a goods autorickshaw. We open the stall by 6 a.m. and remain here till about 9.30 a.m. Then we go home and my mother, a homemaker, has a tough time washing the blender/juicer. Business is bad on rainy days. But on a good day we make about Rs. 1,000 to 1,500 every day. Each drink costs Rs. 20. Since people have become health conscious, they actually enjoy a glass of pure vegetable juice. We don’t even add water and no ice at all.
Practise has made me an expert and along with my cousin Sreejesh, I manage the stall now.
(A weekly column on men and women who make Thiruvananthapuram what it is)
