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 Remember the soup and biryani war that was waged in Tamil Nadu just a few months ago? That was when news about the starving weavers broke out and the ruling party and the Opposition vied with each other to wipe their tears.
The DMK said the weavers were suffering because the AIADMK government had scrapped the free saree/dhoti scheme that was launched by it (and that was why the goods were piling up).
While the DMK set up soup kitchens (kanji thottis), the AIADMK was able to spread a feast of biryani. After a lot of minor skirmishes the parties declared a ceasefire. And the government said it would allow the sale of these huge stocks of sarees and dhotis through ration shops at subsidised rates. And then everyone forgot about the poor weavers and their starving families……till the moneyed folks of Chennai found a great bargain in the cotton handloom sarees and dhotis. Here is a new ‘spin’ to the story.
Now the PDS shops are not able to keep pace with the demand.
 News spread by word of mouth. Soon people were ‘weaving’ in and out of PDS shops that they had never visited, buying several pieces of the sarees (plain, checked, striped) that cost Rs 40 and dhotis (with thick and thin borders) that cost Rs 30.
“I bought the sarees thinking I could convert them into curtains and pillow covers, but the colours were so attractive I bought one for myself and one for my mother-in-law,” says freelance journalist Susan. Her friend has decided to make a churidhar out of a saree, while her mother was contemplating other uses for the dhoti: a skirt… kitchen towels…?
Lecturer Uma Maheshwari was able to fool her colleagues who thought it was an expensive saree. But the flower-seller on way to her college, who looked at her in awe in the morning, “Rationla vikkara podavathaane,” (Ration saree, isn’t it), had a derisive smile in the evening. “But I feel so cool and comfortable,” gushes
Uma.
“People from my office walk out in the evening with at least 10 sarees and 10 dhotis. The PDS staff pile up huge bundles outside our office,” says R Suganthi, who works for the Central Public Works Department in Besant
Nagar.
“Oh, they simply walk into our office with the bundles and walk out with the cash,” laughs Shyamala Rangarajan, who works for the Southern Railway.
 A few celebrities like news reader and actress Fathima Babu went public with their new acquisition and the queues have been growing in the PDS shops. “Even actress Lakshmi wore this saree during a ‘Kadhayalla Nijam’ episode on Vijay TV. I spotted the sarees in even a few serials,” swears S Parvathy from behind bundles of sarees and dhotis in a ration shop in
Kodambakkam.
“In fact, a few women who come here come asking for a particular colour they saw on TV,” adds N Sarojini, who works for another ration shop inside the same room (!). “We find a lot of staff from the Secretariat asking for these sarees. You starch and iron them, you can carry them off very well,” she adds.
But is there a demand only for the sarees? No, roars S A Arasu, who looks after another ration shop that operates from the same room (!!). “In fact, we have a lot of Brahmins snatching up these dhotis. We hit the peak during Mahalya Amavasai (marking the beginning of Navarathri),” he says, and lets out a shout, “Ah, today I sold 19 dhotis and nine
sarees.”
Sarojini and Parvathy hurriedly refer their registers. “Oh, but I sold only 10 veshtis (dhotis) and five sarees today,” says Parvathy, while Sarojini meekly says she sold only seven sarees and seven dhotis. They both confess that they have bought a few sarees themselves.
 The sarees were originally priced at Rs 110 and the dhotis, Rs 100. With the government subsidy, more and more people find it a good bargain. “At Rs 30 a dhoti, I don’t mind if it lasts only three months,” says Mani, an insurance agent.
But there are a lot of sceptics. “What a ‘yarn’! Just wait and see if anybody can recognise these sarees in a year’s time. My neighbour, who bought these sarees as soon as they arrived, now uses them to wipe the floor,” snorts a college lecturer.
One thing is for sure: Here is an interesting case study for future marketing students on how to turn a crassly populist scheme into a money-spinner.
S Chitra
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