From Madurai homes, with love

Not agelong ago, households successful Madurai would travel live a time earlier Deepavali arsenic women prepared an array of sweets and savouries. But successful today’s engaged routines, galore moving women find small clip for specified preparations. While commercialized saccharine shops person mushroomed crossed the city, lone a fewer person retained the accepted flavours. Yet, amid this changing landscape, determination are women successful Madurai who proceed to marque and merchantability accepted sweets and savouries from their homes. For galore families, the sensation of homemade remains unmatched, cherished not lone during Deepavali but done each celebration, from weddings to day parties.

Golden laddoos

At the bosom of the city, R Vijayalakshmi Renganathan, 62, proprietor of Viji’s Food, has been keeping accepted flavours alive. Inspired by her parent and grandmother, whose recipes erstwhile filled their location with festive aromas, her room brings the aforesaid tone — trays of aureate laddoo, athirasam, and her signature maladu lined neatly connected the counter. Made by slow-roasting greenish gram, grinding it to a good powder, and mixing it with lukewarm ghee earlier shaping it into laddoos, the maladu remains her most-loved recipe. “Cooking has ever been my comfort,” she says. “When radical archer maine my sweets punctual them of their childhood, that’s my biggest joy,” she adds.

Every year, Vijayalakshmi’s room gets engaged arsenic Deepavali gets closer. What began arsenic a one-woman effort has steadily grown into a tiny concern present employing 10 women. “In the aboriginal days, I utilized to marque everything myself,” she recalls. “But arsenic orders started pouring successful during Deepavali and wedding seasons, I needed help.” A fewer years ago, her Deepavali income brought successful astir ₹30,000; past year, the fig touched ₹7 lakh, and this twelvemonth she is expecting to transverse ₹10 lakh. Her savouries are priced astatine astir ₹400 per kilogram and sweets astatine ₹500 per kilogram, with kaaju katli topping the database astatine astir ₹1,000 a kilogram.

Apart from her signature maladu, Vijayalakshmi’s room produces a assortment of festive favourites — murukku, athirasam, Mysore pak, halwa, ribbon pakoda, thatai, kaju katli and more. Her sweets and savouries pull orders not conscionable from Madurai but besides from different cities, peculiarly Chennai and Coimbatore. “I adjacent export tiny quantities to different countries,” she says: “My imagination is to instrumentality bulk orders and grow exports worldwide.” However, this year, rising tariffs person enactment a intermission connected planetary shipments. So far, she has sold astir ₹3 lakh worthy of sweets abroad, a opening that keeps her hopes live for the future.

When asked astir enhancing her workplace, Vijayalakshmi says, “I would emotion to proceed moving from location itself.” For her, the room is not conscionable a workspace but a abstraction of comfortableness and creativity. As an entrepreneur, she adds, “As I get much orders for my homemade sweets and savouries, I conscionable caller people, which boosts my confidence.” Despite the increasing standard of her business, she remains rooted successful tradition.

At Regina illam, other to Hotel Temple View, 32 Dhanappa Mudali Street, Madurai. For details, telephone 97919 86390

Murukkukaraamma’s festive treats

Vijayalakshmi is not unsocial successful the resurgence of homemade sweets. Just a fewer streets away, connected Thala Virichan Street, the aerial is filled with the aroma of freshly fried murukku and athirasam. Here, S Lakshmi, 63, affectionately known arsenic Murukkukaraamma by the locals, has been moving her homemade sweets concern for implicit 3 decades. What began arsenic a tiny effort to enactment her household astatine the property of 30, on with her parent and grandmother, gradually evolved into a thriving business.

Sitting conscionable extracurricular her home, with her nieces and nephews assisting her, Lakshmi patiently shapes and fries each batch. The enticing aroma wafts down the lane, attracting passersby who often permission with a packet oregon two. Over the years, her athirasam and murukku person go an integral portion of the festive spirit.

“In those days erstwhile I was younger, I utilized to marque galore varieties of savouries specified arsenic seedai, thattai, achhu murukku and more,” Lakshmi recalls with a smile. “But arsenic I turn older, I can’t beryllium for a agelong time, truthful present we bash murukku and athirasam for Deepavali and weddings,” she says. “We didn’t person a grinder arsenic we person present — we would grind the atom utilizing a mortar and pestle, paying astir 4 to 8 paise for it for young girls successful the neighbourhood who assisted maine backmost then.” She adds, “Now, the grinder makes the enactment overmuch easier.”

When asked astir the trickiest saccharine to make, “Achu murukku needs a spot of skill,” she explains. “After grinding the earthy atom into batter, we person to premix it with jaggery syrup successful the close proportion. Even the syrup has to beryllium boiled to conscionable the close consistency — not excessively heavy oregon thin. Once it’s ready, we dip the mould into the batter and rapidly spot it successful blistery oil. If the timing isn’t perfect, the achu murukku won’t person the close texture,” she says.

Reflecting connected income successful the earlier days, Lakshmi says, “We utilized to merchantability 4 sweets oregon savouries for conscionable 2 oregon 3 paise. Now, a azygous portion goes for astir ₹7.” She recalls the lack of mobile phones backmost then. “Orders utilized to travel done connection of mouth. Some radical would bargain from america and merchantability adjacent the Meenakshi Amman Temple,” she says, coating a representation of a clip erstwhile assemblage networks were the lifeline of tiny businesses.

When asked astir her biggest order, Lakshmi smiles, her eyes lighting up astatine the memory. “Last Deepavali, we received a bulk bid from Tiruchendur Temple — 30,000 murukkus and 30,000 athirasams,” she recalls. “We didn’t adjacent get to observe the festival past year. The sweets and savouries were cautiously packed into cardboard boxes and sent by van to the temple.” She takes pridefulness successful fulfilling the monolithic order, contempt the agelong hours it required.

For Lakshmi, it is ne'er conscionable astir the sweets; it is astir contented and the joyousness her creations bring to others. Even aft much than 3 decades, she continues to beryllium by her stove each festival season, turning elemental ingredients into festive delights that capable homes with nostalgia.

At 5I A, Thala Virichan Lane, Landmark Ayyappa Kovil, Madurai. For details, telephone 9384584484

A saccharine legacy

Stepping into the bosom of Madurai, 1 is instantly drawn to a small store connected Netaji Road — Sumangali Home Industry. At the front, basal neatly packed boxes of sweets and savoury snacks. However, the existent magic lies down the counter. In the kitchen, a radical of women enactment briskly, shaping seedais, rolling laddus, and frying murukku arsenic the aroma of ghee fills the aerial and spills retired onto the street. This store has been operating for 41 years, upholding its bequest of wholly homemade sweets, crafted by a radical of women who person been portion of its travel for decades.

The concern was started successful the aboriginal 1980s by V Thiagarajan, who began making sweets successful his tiny location room with conscionable a fewer helpers. Now, it has grown into a beloved metropolis landmark. “We ne'er compromise connected quality,” says K Dhanalakshmi, 65, 1 of the elder workers who has been with the store for implicit 35 years. “Everything is inactive made the aforesaid mode — successful tiny batches, with caller ingredients and capable quantity of ghee.” Today, aft Thiagarajan, his girl S Bhavani, 37, and her hubby A Sailesh, 39, are moving the business.

Inside, determination are nary machines, lone the hands astatine enactment — shaping, stirring, and frying with practised ease. From boondhi laddus to karasev, each point is hand-made and sun-dried earlier being packed and displayed retired front, says Dhanalakshmi. During the festive season, the room starts buzzing earlier dawn and continues good into the night, arsenic orders determination successful from galore customers. “Our biggest joy,” says Dhanalakshmi with a smile, “Is seeing the aforesaid families travel backmost each Deepavali. Some of them person been buying from america for generations.”

Sailesh says the shop’s bequest stretches beyond generations and geographies. “As we person been moving this since the 1980s, our customers see not conscionable the older procreation who grew up with our sweets, but besides younger ones who person heard astir america from their parents,” helium smiles. “We get orders not lone from Madurai, but from crossed India — and adjacent from customers surviving abroad.”

Sailesh points to 1 of their signature creations — the cone-shaped manoharam paruppu thengai, a saccharine profoundly rooted successful tradition. Made from roasted dal flour, jaggery, and ghee, it is cautiously moulded into a cleanable cone, a staple astatine festive occasions and temple offerings. “Each wound carries the nutty flavour of dal and the affluent sweetness of jaggery,” helium explains. They besides marque nilakadalai paruppu thengai, pottukadalai paruppu thengai, and boondhi paruppu thengai — each crafted successful the classical nine-inch cone shape. “We often connection them to the Meenakshi Amman Temple,” helium adds.

Sailesh explains that the concealed to a cleanable athirasam lies successful patience. “The jaggery syrup indispensable beryllium mixed with the atom batter successful the close proportion,” helium says. “Once fried, it has to remainder for a fewer hours earlier packaging truthful that the syrup seeps successful completely.” It’s this cautious attraction to detail, helium believes, that gives their athirasam its signature sensation and texture.

“For us, each saccharine we marque carries a portion of home,” says Sailesh. “Even aft 40 years, we inactive travel the aforesaid methods and usage the aforesaid attraction arsenic erstwhile we started.” Sumangali Home Industry continues to delight customers crossed generations and cities.

At 119, Netaji Road, Madurai. For details, telephone 9994612800/9894484868