The colourful clothes peg is put to an unusual use at Dabba Chetty Shop on Kutchery Road in Mylapore. Whenever a customer comes in to place an order, he or she tells K. Badrinath, the shop’s owner, who is almost always seated at a counter near the entrance.
He writes it down carefully on a small piece of paper, which he then diligently clips with a clothes peg. “Fan kaathula parandhu poidum ,” he explains matter-of-factly, as he hands it over to one of his four assistants. They read it, then rummage through the many shelves of the herbal medicine shop to scout for spices and special concoctions.
Requests usually range from everyday spices such as sukku (dried ginger), milagu (pepper) and krambu (clove) to post-natal medicine. But in the week leading to Deepavali, one item tops the list.
This is the Deepavali marundhu (medicine). Or legiyam , as it is popularly called.
Priced at Rs. 50 for 45 grams and Rs. 100 for 95 grams, the marundhu — packed in utilitarian white boxes — is in demand this week. “Everybody wants the marundhu, ” Badrinath tells me, even as a couple of customers hover impatiently in a line outside the small shop, “We make it in our house, a few blocks away, and pack it into dabbas. ”
They’ve been doing this since 1885, when his great grandfather S. Krishnaswamy Chettiar started the shop in a small room under a thatched roof.
Things have changed over the years in Mylapore, but the Dabba Chetty Shop — which got its name because they stack all wares in dabbas (containers) — continues to be successful by selling, among other things, Deepavali marundhu .
Their signature recipe for legiyam uses sukku, chitharathai, tippli, omam, milagu, seeragam and yelakkai, among other things.
There are two varieties. Customers can choose to buy the powder, which needs to be subsequently worked on in your kitchen. Or they can buy the finished legiyam , which can be directly consumed.
The legiyam is believed to aid digestion and offset the fat in sweets that one tends over-consume during the festive season.
“It is the product that sells most this week,” says Badrinath, arranging dabbas neatly in front of the shop.
“In the last couple of years, there has been a lot of awareness about herbal medicines, thanks to various TV shows and media attention.
And that, in turn, has got many people, including new customers, visiting us with requests.”
With that, he turns towards a lady who has just parked her car and made her way to the entrance of the shop. He looks at her enquiringly. “ Oru diwali marundhu dabba kedaikkuma (Can I get a dabba of Deepavali marundhu?),” she asks him.
He smiles as he picks one up and proceeds to bill the order. At the 131-year-old Dabba Chetty shop, tradition is still their best seller.
