Once known for palm leaf hand fans, Mudikandam now faces poor patronage from Government

The number of households involved in making the fan has shrunken from 400 to just 20 due to shortage of palm trees, poor patronage and profit which consumes a series of works. “The entire village was busy during those days in making the hand fan and each person could make at least hundred fans a day which would fetch them at least Rs 700 a day. But now, only a few are involved in the work owing to poor patronage,” said Subramanian (52) who has been involved in the work for over 35 years.

Subramanian recalls that the men from the village go in search of palm leaves to the neighbouring villages. “Once there were palm trees everywhere and procuring the leaves was easier. It was just two hours work and we would be back home with at least 100 leaves but now, there are no trees visible in the region. Hence, we need to travel far beyond the district. Sometimes, we need to purchase the leaves from the owners,” he said further.

The making of hand fans is a tedious job. “We need to carefully dry up the leaves and then stitch them with straw which are colour coated. Making of one fan may take at least 15 minutes but an expert can even make at least 100 fans a day,” said C Pattu (63), wife of Chidambaram (75) who was busy stitching the fan.

The couple is one among the 20 families who are still involved in making fans. According to Pattu, they get good orders during the summer days. “Orders from various parts of Tamil Nadu have been pouring in but we are struggling for the raw materials like leaves and straw,” Pattu said.

These people market their products to the whole sale merchants who would purchase at Rs 600 to 700 per 100 pieces. “If we are asked to hand over the products to the markets in the city or other parts of Tamil Nadu, we sell at Rs 700 to 800 per 100 pieces. But the merchants sell them at Rs 10 to 15 per piece,” Pattu said.

Like all other employment, families who make fans too have some grievance and appeal the government to encourage them with distribution of raw materials at a nominal price and selling them at the state owned showrooms like Poompuhar so that they are assured of a steady income all through the year.