CHENNAI: It’s 11 am. Sundari* is busy setting up her juice stall on Marina beach. A few metres away, Manohar is cleaning the plastic rifles and blowing balloons. “When it is summer vacation for the kids, it is peak business for us. We cannot afford to lose customers just because the stall is not ready. So, I never use heat as an excuse to start my job late,” says Sundari, asking us to sip on something cool and colourful from her shop, as we wipe the sweat from our brows.
That’s all the time Sundari has to chat with us because she has to attend to a group of young children and two women who are waiting for sarbat. Summer spells beach time for families. Makeshift shops and pushcarts open early in the day to keep the cash registers ringing.
Best time for business
“It is undoubtedly the best time of the year for me. I travel every year from Jharkhand to sell kulfis for six months. I arrive in March and leave towards the end of September when the rains begin to set in. Chennai is a great place to sell kulfis because it is always so hot and humid,” says Suresh Kumar, who sells kulfis on a pushcart.
The daily earnings help him get past each day of sweat and toil. “There are many times when I am going from place to place with my pushcart in the heat and I feel like eating a kulfi myself. Then I remember that it would mean one less kulfi to sell and I can’t afford that,” he shares, adding that most customers come looking for something to cool their parched throats.
For lovers of sun and sand, these ubiquitous sellers are children of the beach. “I look forward to summers because it is always good business for me,” says K Aishvarya, who runs a beverage stall on Marina beach with her husband. Cold water and lime juice sell like hot-cakes at her stall. “Anything cold works. So, every morning, I get a lot of dry ice so that it will last till the end of the day,” she shares.
A Karunakaran from Nochikuppam, who sells corn on the cob at Marina beach, has breathed the saline air for a few decades. He gets to the beach late in the afternoon because that’s when his loyal customers start lining up. By the time it is 4 pm, the beach starts teeming beach buffs, who like to spend a laidback evening between the salty sea breeze and gushing waves.
Later in the day
For Aditya Manivannan, summer is an opportunity to spend quality time with his two young girls. Since he does not get much time off from work, the beach is a great place for the dad-daughter trio to just hang out. “I visit Besant Nagar beach with them every weekend and sometimes even during the week because we stay close by. This holiday season we have gotten into the habit of eating this potato crisps stick that is available on the beach. I gave in the first time because it was right after their exams, but now it has become a habit,” he says.
Kids make the rules
Even for toy sellers and those selling beaded jewellery on the beach, the footfall during summer is reassuring. “Where we would have two in ten people looking at our products during other times, during the holiday season, we get at least six or seven people to take a look at what we are selling,” says T Jayakumar, who sells toys near Besant Nagar beach.
The 45-year-old who has been selling toys for over 10 years knows how to capture the imagination of his target audience. In a short span of time, he convinces them of how much fun they will have if they bought the toy. “I rely heavily on children to convince their parents to buy the toys. I have noticed that during the holidays, parents are more relaxed and willing to give in to their child’s wishes, either because it is too hot to argue or because they genuinely want to give in. Whatever it is, it is good for business,” he says.
Another favourite when it comes to beaches are the games that one can play. Be it shooting balloons, the hoop throwing game or even a ride on the carousel, children lay down the terms during the summer holidays. “I love the shooting game,” says N Shrimati, a student of class 6 who is happy to defeat her father at the game. “He has to buy me a chocolate ice-cream now. Playing games on the beach is so much fun. Since we stay in Perambur, coming to Marina beach takes a while but it is worth it. We are coming back next week with my paati so she can also play some games.”
*Name changed