THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid the fuel shortage resulting from the West Asia conflict, people in the state capital are already seeking alternatives to cooking gas to tide over the crisis. A stroll through the Chalai market is all one needs to understand how people are bracing themselves: shops that once sold gas stoves are now placing induction cooktops at the front of their racks and hardware shop owners are busy selling metal hearths, just as they did in the past.
“The trend of people buying induction cooktops began in the past two days, when everyone became concerned about the crisis. Our stocks are getting depleted at a fast pace, bought mostly by urban residents,” said Vivek, in charge of the electronics section at Ideal Home Appliances in Karamana.
However, though sales of electric kettles have also increased proportionately, people are yet to pick up ovens and air-fryers at the same rate.
At the same time, metallic hearths or fire pits have also made their way back to shops.
“Owners of small hotels buy these hearths of different sizes. Household customers, who have a second kitchen or ample space in their home, also purchase this,” said Rameshan, a vendor in the Chalai market.
Meanwhile, people who sell dried wood for lighting these fire pits said demand is not that huge. “At least for now, we haven’t seen an increased demand for firewood. We don’t know how things will turn out in the coming days,” said Padmanabhan, a firewood seller from Karamana.
Notably, kerosene stoves have also made a comeback to the hardware shops with increased demand. “Most of the customers of kerosene stoves are migrant labourers, who otherwise used a smaller LPG cylinder to cook at their homes. Since kerosene is not readily available for all, people have started using diesel in these stoves,” said Kannan, a hardware shop owner in Chalai.
Though many, including homemakers, are buying these stoves, he said kerosene stoves will be out of trend once normalcy returns.
The fact is people are purchasing electronic cooking appliances only to manage the crisis period and not as a sustainable alternative. “This is just for a brief period. Induction cooking cannot be depended on for long as our power bills will increase, disturbing the family budget,” said Suresh, a resident of Naruvammoodu.