A narrow lane in Mylapore that keeps the crowd coming back

If Anna Nagar is a place for confectionery carts, Mylapore is where Chennaiites willingly queue up for different types of sundal, kozhukattai, poli, uppu urundai, and payasam. At one such traditional South Indian sundal snack cart on Pichu Pillai Street, Murugan and Shanthi, the couple behind it, don’t even need blaring loudspeakers to gather customers like other places in the city; the crowd just shows up on its own.

On evenings around 6 p.m., the queue spills into the adjoining street while the duo’s hands rush to tie parcels in banana leaves, something they have been doing for the past seven years. “Not just from Mylapore, people now come from across the city just to eat traditional snacks here,” says Mr. Murugan. He says he tried his hand at many ventures before this, none of which quite took root. But one day, when the duo was making sundal at home for themselves, the idea struck, and it clearly paid off, as social media influencers, too, now make a beeline for the cart.

Many queue up to buy sundal on Pichu Pillai Street, Mylapore
| Photo Credit:
M. Srinath

Doctors by profession, Partha and Nivedita from Egmore, who were standing in line, said they had come all the way for a bit of street-side food-hopping. “The whole area has roadside eateries, and we had heard a lot about it, but this is the first time we have come to try it. It has been fun so far tasting many of our traditional snacks,” said Dr. Partha.

Another passerby, Pavithra, who had picked up snacks such as coconut laddoos from a roadside shop in Mylapore, said that new shops keep springing up around the corner, predominantly selling homemade traditional snacks. “Since many don’t have the time to cook these at home, and when children are hungry after school and tuition, this comes in handy and is cost-effective,” she said.

A street of hope

For Ms. Shanthi, after a string of setbacks and losses in previous businesses, this venture feels like a sea of hope. “This looks easy, but it is just the two of us doing everything. We start preparation at 7 a.m.,” she said. It has been about showing up with sincerity despite the odds, said Ms. Shanthi. “The sundal business did not pick up in the very beginning after our earlier losses, but this street in Mylapore has become lucky for us,” she said.