Onam flowers wilt away
dubai — Thousands of flowers imported to Dubai specially for the Onam festival remained unsold and have wilted as expatriates called off celebrations to show solidarity with flood victims in Kerala.
Roses, marigolds, hibiscus, tulasi and lantana flowers are usually used by Malayalee families to create what is known as
pookalam, a floral arrangement that forms a big part of the Onam festivities.
According to Sudalaimuthu Perumal, owner of Perumal Stores — a popular flower shop — three tonnes of a six-tonne consignment the store imported have wilted and had to be thrown away.
dubai — Flower shop proprietors have suffered heavy losses as several tonnes of fresh flowers wilted at stores across the UAE, as expats called off Onam festival celebrations in solidarity with the flood victims of Kerala.
A total of three tonnes of flowers wilted in various branches of the popular flower shop Perumal Stores. Sudalaimuthu Perumal, owner of Perumal Stores, told Khaleej Times that he had to throw three tonnes of quality flowers to waste.
The run up-to-the Kerala harvest festival of Onam is traditionally marked by the bustle and significant sales in flower shops. Baskets of colourful flowers such as roses, marigolds, hibiscus, tulasi, and the lantana flower are commonly found in flower shops during the Onam festival. Families, especially young children, and retailers use flowers to create an ‘athapookalam’, or a floral arrangement that forms a big part of Onam festivities in Kerala.
“Flooding in large parts of Kerala have left people with no mood to celebrate. Usually, we sell up to 15 tonnes of flowers across 11 branches of our stores during Onam. This Onam we ordered six tonnes of flowers and three tonnes wilted,” said Sudalaimuthu. He said several last-minute order
We thought individuals and families would celebrate at home. But that too was at abysmally low. Floods in Kerala have left people with no mood to celebrate.” Sudalaimuthu Perumal, owner, Perumal Stores
cancellations by retailers and a meagre number of individual buyers led to the flowers wilting.
Perumal Flowers are distributed at the Aweer Fruit and Vegetable market and retail outlets such as Sunrise, Talal Supermarket, KM Trading Group and a few other stores.
“We thought individuals and families would celebrate at home. But that too was at abysmally low numbers,” he added. The company imports air shipment every day from the South Indian cities of Coimbatore, Bangalore, and Madurai.
During Onam, unique imports from Kozhikode and Kochi in Kerala are also standard. “Due to the floods this year, we transported the flowers from Madurai to Thiruvananthapuram via road and then transported them to the UAE,” he said.
Sudalaimuthu added: “It didn’t help that there were rains in Kerala and Karnataka, the flowers were exposed to water and moisture, resulting in the flowers wilting earlier.
3 Tonnes of flowers perished as Malayali community called off celebrations
The shelf-life of these flowers are not more than two days.”
Flowers at the store sold at Dh30 per kilogramme. “We made special Dh5 packages, and those were common among buyers,” she added.
Moreover, this is the first time the veteran flower salesman is suffering losses of this magnitude. “Never before have we had to throw away flowers because they wilted,” he said.
The most common Indian festivals when flowers are commonly purchased are Dusshera, Ganesh Pooja, Diwali, Tamil festival Pongal and a few other festivals. Another flower shop, The South Indian
Flowers store in Sharjah, Abu Shagarah, said: “We, fortunately, cancelled all bookings 10 days ago before the Onam, and we didn’t incur too many losses.”