Be it personal or business, any trip to Tirunelveli will be incomplete without buying the famous halwa tagged to its name.
The mouthwatering confection made from wheat, sugar and ghee is a huge revenue spinner as tourists and other visitors make it a point to fill their baggage with at least a few kg of the translucent reddish-brown slabs before leaving the city. Not surprisingly, huge crowds can be seen milling around leading sweet shops located near the railway junction.
Like other MSME units, these traditional establishments too have been badly hit by the raging pandemic. After the lockdown came into effect, they had to down shutters.
Now, with loosening of restrictions, the shop owners hope to resume business. But they also realise it is not going to be easy.
“Business is yet to pick up as the lockdown has badly hit everyone, more importantly, everyone’s income,” says Balasubramanian, a sweet shop owner from Palayamkottai.
Also, with the continuing ban on public transport, the ‘floating population’ — tourists and visitors — are yet to come back. “So, our business will be back on track only after transport is restored,” he points out.
For now, local fans are expected to keep business afloat. In fact, many senior citizens and retired government employees, who are not diabetics, can be seen ending their evening walk at the halwa shops.
After a 58-day hiatus, they can be seen in front of the shops again enjoying their favourite sweet and savoury along with friends, even as their owners await regular customers.
However, not all are despairing. Hari Singh, owner of the popular Iruttu Kadai, is a happy man. Instead of the usual long queues, he has customers coming in small groups now.
“If customers wait in long queue in front of the shop, police and civic officials will ask them to maintain physical distancing,” he says. “And if our customers ignore the instruction, they will ask me to close down the shop.”
Since he has reopened the shop after nearly two months, he thinks it makes better business sense to abide by the instructions of officials while also serving his customers.