We first hear the tinkle of glass bangles. And then it hits us: the overpowering scent of jasmine. About 30 women are stringing the flowers inside a nondescript building in a bylane in Nilakottai, Dindigul district, 45 kilometres from Madurai. Songs from a mobile phone play in the background as their fingers work swiftly. Each of them is seated in front of small heaps of flowers — they can string half a kilogram in under one hour. Outside, two groups of men string garlands. Polystyrene boxes wait nearby, into which the garlands and jasmine strands will be packed with ice.
They will then be sent to Singapore, the US, UAE (Dubai) and Malaysia. An urgency creeps in as afternoon nears and the consignment has to be readied for the first leg of its journey by road: this is just another day in the many small packaging units of export companies that dot Nilakottai.
S Lokesh, whose father SM Sivakumar owns SMS Exports, is overseeing work at their unit. “We buy flowers from the market here at 6.30am every day. To tie them, we employ women from surrounding villages who are skilled in the craft,” he adds. The companies function out of buildings on the outskirts, many of which operate based on orders for the day. Nilakottai’s flower market is among the jasmine hubs in the region, apart from Madurai, Usilampatti, and Aruppukottai. Farmers from villages nearby bring their flowers to sell at the town’s market that steadily supplies customers across the world.
