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Poonkodi - The new Pookaramma in Town

“Poo maa, poo!” she cries, with a huge bamboo basket full of flowers, held on her hip. The crimson sun bids adieu tinting the sky a soft scarlet and dims its blazing beams for the day to doze off. As the jaathi, roja and mullai in the basket follow suit and slip into slumber after a long day, the pookaramma sprinkles some refreshing water onto them, for they have to make it to their customer from the evening and fetch her some rupees before she winds up for the day. The malli in her basket, however, looks fresher than dawn, as its distinctly enchanting fragrance comforts her concern and promises her another hundred rupees at least. Her face blooms as she plans to get her daughter a medhu vadai on her way back home, a long-pending treat, if she succeeds in her mission to earn enough.

The bus’s honking signaling its departure from the depot in a few minutes makes her scoot toward it and sell the flowers to the passengers sitting inside. Her vibrant, enthusiastic sing-song “poo maa, poo” was such a treat to the ears, as everyone was settling down inside the bus. She looked up a window of the bus and found a lady to whom she tried selling the flowers. After examining the basket, the lady said, “the malli looks good, how much does a muzham cost?”, to which she replied, “Madurai malli ma, such a charm! That’ll be thirty per muzham.” The lady hands over ninety rupees and asks for three muzhams. The pookaramma cheerfully measured the malli with her hands and packed in a few roses along with it.

The conductor of the bus blew the whistle, which meant the bus was about to start in less than a couple of minutes. Pookaramma tried her luck walking past the windows chanting “poo ma, poo!” with increased vigor, which was when a young couple called her from another seat, to buy some flowers. Attracted by the radiant malligai, the man decided to buy some of it for his wife and she immediately asked the pookaramma, “how much for a muzham?”, to which the pookaramma quoted its price. When the woman was about to bargain for a better price, the man stopped her and asked the pookaramma to give him four muzhams of the malli. Pookaramma was overjoyed and knew she could now go to the tea stall nearby and get her daughter the vadai she has been yearning to eat.

As pookaramma handed him the pack of malli, and collected a hundred and twenty rupees, she stepped back to put all the hard-earned money carefully into her pocket. When she looked at the bus departing, she saw the young man whispering something into his wife’s ear, which made her blush and turn around, as he adorned her long and lustrous black hair with the malli he bought her. Pookaramma contented at this sight, transferred the remaining flowers into a bag and headed home, after getting the vadai. She handed the hot vadai to her daughter who had been waiting outside their hut for her to come home and walked in straight to a photograph. She garlanded it with a muzham of the malli and heaved a sigh of relief, as she has found a source of income through malligai.

It was day one as Poonkodi turned pookaramma through this business after she was left with a daughter to provide for, as her husband, an honest, hard working auto driver, passed away a month ago in an accident. Having garlanded the photograph of her departed husband, pookaramma took out the remaining couple of muzhams of malli and cut it into two halves - one for her daughter Shakti and one for herself, in memory of her beloved husband, who used to never return home without a muzham of malli for Poonkodi.

We have often bought malli, and bargained with the hawker in an attempt to save a few rupees, but do we know the story of the one who sells it? How often do we graciously agree to the price they quote for a muzham of malli? Why do you think they quote that price? Is it just their way of making “more money" or is it their struggle for survival and to make up for the price they had to pay some parties in the middle? How much do you think the farmer who grows those malligai must be earning? What is it about Madurai malligai, that is so empowering and promising, that has the potential to light up lives? Poo-Mallஐ sows the seed of these questions to dwell upon, for you to know better and act wiser.