These courier companies pack and
send freshly made masala powders, mango pickle and even pulikkachal to homesick
Indians in the US, Europe, Australia and Middle East
Yash Courier Express. “My first
customer was from Kotturpuram,” he says, “He sent home-made goodies to his
daughter in the US.” More orders followed and over the two-decades he has been
in business, he has sent countless packages of mom-made powders, snacks, and
pickles to Indian students and immigrants in the US, Europe, Australia and
Middle Eastern countries .
Meanwhile in West Mambalam,
Sikkandhar Basha of Deluxe Abroad Packers says he started out when a customer
wanted to sent some food along with her child, who was going abroad. “I helped
pack it in food-grade plastic carry bags. From there, shipping was but a small
step,” he says. Since then, his food-packs have been opened in student-dorms
and shared apartments across the globe.
But food is only part of his
business. At his busy office, ready-to-go cardboard boxes contain everything
from books to jewellery, handloom towels to incense sticks — everything that a
student needs to feel at home under a foreign sky. Or anything the diaspora wants
for their Indian lifestyle. “Decorations for pujaidols/rooms and puja material
are regular inventory,” says Senthil Kumaran. So are kolu dolls,
brass figurines, hand-made pottery. “We help with transporting everything
except pure oil and raw khus-khus ,” he adds. “I have even carted
awaydharpai and poonul for Aavani-avittam and glass bangles
for valaikappu .”
He says business has expanded
thanks to better packing methods, materials and machines. Boxes carry nitrogen
packs to keep food items fresh, humidity-free. “Packing is my USP,” says
Sikkandhar, giving a demo. He covers a clay Ganesha idol with thick foam bits,
showers it with shredded paper, blankets the whole thing with foam sheets and
then in bubble wrap.
NP Uma, a 77 year old, first-time
customer from Anna Nagar has brought Sikkandhar a year’s supply of
loosely-packed powders for sambar, rasam, curry, gojju, and chutney — and two
tubs of aavakkai that smells delicious and drips with oil. It is for
her son in Hong Kong. Sikkandhar transfers the pickle into carry bags, then
heat-seals them in three parallel lines. He collects it all into a recycled
cardboard box, tapes the surface and sticks the printed address on the sides.
“Ours is an unbroken-so-far promise of ‘no-damage, no-break, no-leak,’ whether it’s maavadu , aavakkai or pulikkachal ,”
he brags. Then adds, that medicines can also be sent, if the prescription and
purchase bill are attached.
Admittedly, these services are
not cheap. To send a parcel to the US, for example, it costs between Rs. 550 and
Rs. 600 per kilo, packaging included. Senthil Kumaran says, “Airlines bill us
airport-to-airport (Rs. 450 a kilo) and goods travel through several airports.”
Packages reach within two or three days, subject to unexpected hurdles.
Speed Post, on the other hand,
takes 12 to15 days, and you have to pack in front of the dispatchers. “Our
charges — same as Speed Post’s — include pick-up from home, packing and prompt
delivery,” he says.
Business has spurted since
Australia lifted the ban on processed food a few months ago and the US raised
the duty-free limit for personal products to 800 USD. “Satisfaction is shipping
sets of seer murukku (given as return gifts at functions) of
nine rounds each — without cracks,” says Senthil Kumaran. “Remember Hurricane
Harvey? Around the time, a customer had booked a large consignment for a family
wedding. Agents in Houston warned me about the storm. I got USPS to send me
hourly storm alerts, and delivered the items during a buffer-time.”
WhatsApp adds a new dimension to
this business. When Deepa V from California ordered bags, jewellery and
garments online, she mailed the pictures to Sikkandhar. Could he please
receive, pack and ship them? He agreed, sent her pictures of the goods,
forwarded a scanned bill and once the payment was through, despatched them.
R Hema has been shipping kolu dolls
to her daughter-in-law Shyamala Ramesh who lives in New Jersey for years. “I
now put up a 7-step kolu thanks to the courier,” smiles Shyamala on a
visit to Chennai. Meanwhile, Sikkandhar’s busy working on his next consignment.
He plops a loose zip-locked packet of wetnarthangai pickle on the table
for packing, then grins and shrugs, “No problem!”
In theHarry Potterbooks, owls were used to carry
messages and even parcels.
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