Sometimes there is good in a bad. The heat has become intolerable. But this has helped better the business of small vendors who sell mud/earthen pots. Though this cannot be compared to the business of air conditioners and refrigerators, the modest pots have still made a noteworthy improvement in their livelihood.

People have chosen to go back to the natural and healthy way of cooling water. This is clear from the sudden increase in the number of pots that line the roadside shops on Mettupalayam Road, especially near Kavundampalayam.

“During normal days only elder people come to buy pots. Now the business is good. Because of the heat, people say that doctors are asking them to use mud pots for its medicinal values. Not just for storing water, people now also buy mud pots for cooking,” says M. Jothi, who has been involved in the business for more than 10 years.

Yet, even as the demand is increasing, local production has taken a beating with shortage of workers and soil. This has forced potters of Coimbatore to procure mud pots from other districts. As a natural outcome, the rate of mud pots has also increased.

Large procurements of mud pots are being made from other districts, including Madurai, Dharmapuri, Virudhunagar and Sivaganga, and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

“We sold mud pots between Rs. 200 and Rs. 250 earlier, now the rate has doubled with the pots with water taps selling from Rs. 400 to Rs. 450, pots without taps selling between Rs. 150 and Rs. 350,” says D. Mohan Raj, another potter from Kavundampalayam.

He also adds that the rise in the price is because of high rate of soil, which is being sold at Rs. 5,000 a truck load.

“Government should help us procure soil at affordable price to increase production of mud pots in Coimbatore,” Mohan Raj adds.