This is the time when one can get juicy sweet jackfruits. Every weekend, I go to Pudukottai to buy the fruits. People here prefer fruits from Pudukottai over the ones from Kerala. From June to August, I engage myself in selling jackfruit. I manage to sell around 40 whole fruits in a week. The prices have gone up these days due to dip in production and hence I price a piece of the fruit from Rs. Two to Three. I have four pushcarts stationed around Reserve Line, Narayanapuram, Iyer Bungalow and Tirupalai and I earn up to Rs.2,500 per day. During the rest of the year, I sell groundnuts, palm jaggery (karupatti) and Tapioca, which are also seasonal. At times, instead of fetching the products directly from farms, I also get them from the wholesale markets in the town area. My profit margin is minimal but sufficient for me to run the business and take care of my family. I have two sons studying in school and a homemaker wife.
About three decades ago, I came to Madurai as a small boy, as our family shifted here from our native village near Kayathar in Tirunelveli district. My father was a mason and earned very little for a large family of 10 children. All my brothers and sisters live in Madurai doing various works. Thankfully, I haven’t seen a bad day in business so far and I hope it continues this way.
( A fortnightly column on men and women who make Madurai what it is)
Published - June 10, 2015 05:40 pm IST
