Short-duration match leaves Kudumbashree and Prisons Department disappointed

According to him, the food items that were not sold at the stadium were then shifted to the ‘Food for Freedom’ cafeteria run by the Kerala Prisons at Poojapura.

Indian fans making merry after India demolished West Indies in the fifth and final ODI at Greenfield stadium in Thiruvananthapuram | B P Deepu

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Thanks to the belligerent performance on the field by the Indian team, first with the ball and then with the bat, the final match of the India-West Indies ODI series wound up much earlier than expected. As the die-hard fans were left with a mixed feeling of dejection and exuberance, there were other two sections at the stadium left with that glum feeling: Kudumbashree workers and Prisons Department officers. For both the agencies, entrusted with the food distribution at the Karyavattom Greenfield International Stadium, it was a major disappointment since they could not sell food items as expected on account of the short-duration match. 

Indian cricket team fan Sudhir Kumar
Chaudhary waving the Tricolour after
some of the team members arrived at
the Sports Hub to hold a nets session
| Vincent Pulickal

The short match had dealt a major blow on their sales. “Yes, the short duration of the match had affected our sales. At the same time, we can’t say that we ended up on the losing side. While we were able to sell the entire stock of biriyanis (1,000 in numbers) the sale of chapati and chicken curry was not that satisfactory,” said M K Vinod Kumar, Superintendent, Thiruvananthapuram Central Prison. 

According to him, the food items that were not sold at the stadium were then shifted to the ‘Food for Freedom’ cafeteria run by the Kerala Prisons at Poojapura. The food supplied by the Prisons Department at the stadium were sourced from Central Jail, Special Sub-Jail, Women’s Prison, Women’s Open Prison, and District Jail. 

Kudumbashree Assistant District Mission Coordinator Anjana MS said: “The sale was not that high as we expected. Had it been much longer we could have earned more money.” 

According to her, 11 units that come under the Kudumbasree District Mission had supplied food items including biriyani, kappa-fish curry, chappati-chicken, and snacks including burger, sandwich and others. “After we found that it was a low-scoring match, we immediately decided to cancel the dinner order. But we sold a good amount of biriyani and snacks,” added Anjana.

Biriyani trumps chapathi
Thiruvananthapuram Central Prison superintendent M K Vinod Kumar said while the entire stock of biriyanis was sold despite the short duration of the India-WI ODI, the sale of chapathis and chicken was 
“not that satisfactory.”

1,000 
The number of biriyanis which T’Puram Central Prison sold
11 units
under Kudumbashree Dist Mission supplied food items