P. Sivaprasad looks frazzled as he attends to customers at his store in Kaithamukku, which specialises in indigenous herbs and medicines. Dried herbs, roots, seeds, barks and various other plant products, which go into the making of Ayurveda medicines, jostle for space on the shelves, while aloe vera, dried ridge gourd and hairy roots are strung in front of the shop.
Standing in the midst of bottles containing these medicinal ingredients, Sivaprasad, who learnt the tricks of the trade from his father and grandfather, explains the uses of some of the popular ones. “They taught me the medicinal properties of each herb, root, seed and bark,” he says.
Business has been brisk at the store for the past two months. According to Sivaprasad, there was a rush in the run-up to Karkkidakam as Ayurveda spas and centres stocked up for the season. Ingredients such as kurumthotti , ayamodakam , fenugreek… that go into the popular Karkkidaka kanji, and the list of items that go in the Ayurveda massage oils were much in demand. “As it was also the month of Ramadan, there was a rise in sales for Asali ari, a variety of rice Keralite Muslims generally use to prepare nombu kanji. Some Ayurveda followers use this variety of rice to prepare Karkkidaka kanji too,” says Sivaprasad.
At a store in Pulimoodu, a customer hands over a list of ingredients needed to brew a massage oil, while a customer in Chala, picks up a packet of the store’s homemade Karkkidaka kanji. Says Moorthy, who runs a 100-plus-year-old Angadi marunna kada in Kaithamukku: “Earlier, people usually visited an angadi store with a prescription by a Ayurveda physician. This prescription was like a formula, listing the ingredients for a medical preparation in the required quantities, along with the method of preparation. After buying the ingredients, the patients made the medicines at home.”
Now, although ready-made medicinal potions by major brands and Ayurveda pharmacies are available, there are customers who still frequent such stores as they are wary about the ingredients added in over-the-counter stuff.
“As some ingredients are hard to come by or are unavailable, we recommend an ingredient that has the same properties to our customers, a gesture most brands and pharmacies might neglect to do,” says Moorthy.
The clientele, according to B. Sunil, who runs a store in Chala, is mostly regulars, with women picking up ingredients for face packs and for hair oils. There are a lot of takers for ingredients for post natal care and the elderly generally seek ointments for their joints.
Guardians of a dying heritage, these vendors seem a bit unsure about the future of their shop and tradition. “Most of us are carrying on the trade set by our fathers and grandfathers. We are not hopeful of the younger generation upholding the tradition as it is not a glamorous or lucrative business. Unlike last year, the footfall to our stalls has been slow so far. Orders for Karkkidaka kanji generally starts coming in around this time. Maybe we will start receiving requests over the next couple of days,” hopes T. Narayanan, who runs a store at Chala.
People buy medicines sold by Ayurveda pharmacies “as it is less complicated. People do not have the patience or the time to brew their own medicines. Nobody wants to take the trouble of preparing medicine at home when they have the ease and convenience of purchasing a bottle of the factory-made version of the same potion. That is why stalls have started stocking ready-made medicinal potions by pharmacies too. We have to keep up with the competition after all.”
