THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Is that sweat or a drop of tear that rolls down Valsala’s cheek, you wonder. She wipes her forehead with the back of the soot-stained hands while shovelling out a heap of the charred remains of vegetables and stationery.As the trolley moves away, she points to a black mass that vaguely resembles a metal box sitting on top of the garbage - “we had three coin boxes like this.” Flames that feasted on the three adjacent shops she and her husband R Maniyan own had spread to a good portion of the northern block of Connemara Market in Palayam in the wee hours of Wednesday. “We had stocks piled up in two shops, apart from those kept for regular sale in this first one,” said Maniyan, pointing to where his wife and a few well-wishers were engaged in cleaning out the scorched remains. “I had also left around Rs 20,000 in cash in the shop,” he manages to clear his throat before it chokes on the statement. He added, more to himself, “I have two daughters who are in college.” “This is the fourth time a fire broke out in this market since I started out 43 years ago,” said Arjunan, whose vegetable shop had a narrow escape. If not for the alert sounded by his staff, the early birds to arrive at the market every dawn, the hungry flames that were fast spreading at 4 am would have consumed the entire market.“On Tuesdays, fresh stocks arrive in the market and Wednesdays are always eagerly awaited for the brisk business. So, the fire had lots to devour this time,” he said with a wry laugh.Fruit stall owner K Udayan has to figure out ways to meet the loss of stock worth Rs 4 lakh. “Around three years ago, my shop had caught fire and I had incurred a huge loss. To start business again, I had to take loans from banks too and now this,” the listlessness is loud and discernible in his voice. It will take many more days for these hapless shopkeepers to resume business. The charred shops have to be renovated, the stocks have to brought in fresh and before that there are huge amounts of money to be found for any of these action plans to get underway.
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