The Dying Art of Closed Auctions

   The sleepy town of Virudhunagar comes to life between the months March and April every year.

    There is a festive spirit that pervades the otherwise sleepy town. The announcement of the temple festivities of the town deity Virudhunagar Mariamman Panguni festival also coincides with the arrival of the chilli crop in the Virudhunagar chilli market.

 What is the relationship between dry red chillies and Virudhunagar? 

                 A lot actually. Virudhunagar and the old Ramnad district was the largest chilli growing tract in the country until the 1960’s. The chillies from Virudhunagar are the famed S4 chillies known throughout the global spice trade.

       The term S4 was derived by using the alphabet S denoting the Tamil word sannam (meaning thin and long) 4 indicating the telephone no. of the VPSA group who were the first exporters of the famed s4 stemless chillies from India. The group is still a significant force in the trading and processing of chillies in the country.

    VPSA folklore has it there were very few telephones in Virudhunagar and the telephone number at the office was 14. The number now stands as 243714 and is still operational at the company.

     

    Closed auctions were the standard across all agricultural commodities and cattle shandies across the country until recently. The auctions held in the chilli market at Virudhunagar are perhaps one of the last surviving of this slowly but surely dying form of auction.

 

    At a time when e auctions/ open market auctions are the norm- this is one method that has stood the test of time. The pandemic has taught us to avoid physical contact and follow social distancing and this I fear will put an end to this fascinating form of auction.

Let me try to explain how complex auction works:

        The commission agent who is representing the farmer’s produce stretches out his arm with a towel covering his hand.

    The buyers seated or standing around inspect a representative sample of the produce and begin their bids by holding the agents hand and bid by holding and stroking the agents fingers. Each finger held or stroked indicates various numbers.

        Holding each finger from the index to the little finger indicates numbers s 1 to 4. A tap on the inner palm indicates a 5 and a stroke along the fingers starting from the little finger to the index fingers goes from 6 to 9. A zero is indicated by drawing it on the inner palm using the index finger.

    The seller/ agent has to remember each bid and if he is not satisfied with the bids will go around asking the buyers to bid higher.

   The craft of the agent can be witnessed here as he has a number of ways to make prospective buyers to bid higher or even reject bids from potential buyers.

   

     On the other hand one buyer can induce the other buyers to bid higher by just drawing zeros during each round.    

         This is a sight to behold and the ability of buyers and sellers to hold sombre faces so as not to give anything away.

    Though the S4 chillies were the first it paved the way for the other variants also coded as s17 chillies and the s9 chillies, all of which are now the accepted trade names in the international spice trade.

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