Along with the rising mercury, the demand for ‘cool drinks’ has soared in the city. Roadsides especially have been seeing brisk business. Aval milk, Kulukki and Paal sherbet, Naruneendi sherbet, soda sherbet, buttermilk, watermelon juice...the fare is varied. Add tender coconut, nongu, akkani, and sugarcane juice to the menu and one may seem spoilt for choice.
Profits have been decent, say vendors. On a good day, they may make ₹2,000. Take out the expenses, and the rest is enough to make ends meet. “Earnings fluctuate. If the sky is overcast for two consecutive days, the number of customers dips,” says Siddique as he adds a few things to a glass, clamps another glass over it upside down, and serves up a glass of Kulukki sherbet in a matter of minutes.
This road has at least eight to 10 vendors selling sherbets. “People driving by from either direction tend to stop at the first few vendors. Those sandwiched in the middle make do with whatever we get,” says Anitha, a regular here for two years.
Shifting to a new location is not easy, says Shamsudheen who turned to selling sherbets four months ago after his fruits business became unviable. “People know us here. Finding customers takes time, and location is important.”
Coconuts and melons
There are a few tender coconut vendors too on the stretch. Most of them get their stock from Tamil Nadu. However, one vendor claims he sells coconuts sourced from homes in the city and outskirts, that too twice a week. “I cannot sell more even if I wish to. There aren’t enough tender coconuts.”
Nongu fans can get a taste of nongu juice, nongu fruit mix, pineapple juice, and Akkani at a stall on the road to Jagathy, or around the Secretariat area. Mounds of watermelon have also started appearing by the roadsides, at ₹20 a kg. A truckload lasts just about a week.
The tangier lot
Some stalls here sell bottles of mangoes and gooseberries to which a little water, salt, ginger, chillies, and curry leaves have been added. Just take the bottles home or ask the vendors to add the contents to buttermilk. The city Corporation is not happy about vendors doing business without getting a food safety licence. “We have repeatedly said that the licence from the Food safety is mandatory but most of them do not apply for it. We will be forced to act as such unauthorised businesses are springing up everywhere,” says Corporation Health standing committee chairperson K. Sreekumar.
