When he was 15 years old, K. Srinivas from Mangapati Naidu Nagar in Naidupet of Nellore district in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, left home to find his fortune.
His father, S. Kailash, sent him with a blessing, a few hundred rupees and a bag full of clay-made hundis. Srinivas is now 25-years-old and he sends around ₹20,000 to his family every month. His two children are studying at a private school in Naidupet.
Srinivas has managed to find some financial stability as a maker of clay hundis. When Srinivas left Naidupet for Chennai ten years ago, he was not alone. Four friends — S. Vamsi, K. Venketash, B. Prakash and N. Suriyanarayanan — who also make clay hundis for a living, went with him.
These four are in their late twenties and, just like Srinivas, they support their families back home in Naidupet. All the five visit their families once a week.
Srinivas and his four friends have been running their business from P. V. Rajamannarsalai in K.K. Nagar. The 80-feet-wide stretch in K.K. Nagar has been their home-cum-workplace for nearly a decade, after they moved there from Mada Street near Lord Murugan temple in Vadapalani.
They sleep on the neatly-laid concrete footpath near their push-carts parked along the road, use public toilets located on the adjacent street lane and eat at a local restaurant.
“Any job has its own challenges. Initially, we found it very difficult to communicate with the local people as we cannot speak fluently in Tamil. Now, we can talk a bit of Tamil,” said Srinivas.
Srinivas, youngest among four siblings, had to leave school at a young age due to poverty and he began to assist his father in the latter’s pottery business.
He says he was attracted to making hundis as they help people save money.
And, unlike many other works of pottery, hundis can be made quickly and also in large numbers.
Further, as they are low-cost, these clay-made hundis can be sold without much difficulty.
At P.V. Rajamannarsalai, Srinivas and his friends take turns in running their push-carts. Of the five sellers, two will stay on the stretch attracting local customers and the other three with travel around the city, mainly visiting residential areas like Adyar, Mylapore, Mandavali, Nanganallur, Tambaram, Kodambakkam, Virugambakkam, Mogappair and Perambur. They also sell hundis to shops at pilgrim and tourist spots in the city like Vadapalani, Mylapore, Mamallapuram and Broadway.
Srinivas’ pushcart has hundis for all age group and they come in all sizes. Depending on their size, hundis range from ₹20 and ₹50.
Most hundis are shaped like fruits and flowers. On an average, Srinivas sells around 50 hundis every week on the stretch.
Hundis are brought from their hometown (Naidupet) during their weekly visit.
“Based on our sales, we can say that the habit of saving among children through hundis is declining. A decade ago, we sold more than a 100 hundis each week. Now, we sell half that number,” says S. Vamsi.