An Aru Enterprise potter decorating Ponggal pots with colourful designs, the last part of production. — Photos: KK SHAM/The Star
The Tamil community has been busy with last-minute preparations to celebrate Thai Ponggal.
The harvest festival, which sees celebrants thanking the sun and farm animals for agricultural abundance, takes place tomorrow.
Today, which is also the first day of the Thai month in the Tamil calendar, the house will be thoroughly cleaned.
A key element of the celebration is to allow milk in a pot to boil until it overflows, before cooking sweet rice as offering.
As it is customary for new clay pots to be used for this purpose, the earthenware is much sought after during this time of year.
However, since the Covid-19 pandemic began, local suppliers have been struggling to meet demand because of the lack of skilled workers.
Most potters here were south Indian migrant workers and they returned to their homeland after the traditional Indian clay pot making industry in Kuala Selangor was hit hard.
Krishnan Pottery owner Mahavisnoo Krishnan, 39, a third- generation potter in Kuala Selangor, said he had to let his migrant workers go because of the economic situation.
Mahavisnoo says that with the help of local workers, he produced some 25,000 clay pots.
“Our family business suffered because of the pandemic.
“In 2021, some of the workers left and in early 2022, the final batch left.
“We used to produce 50,000 pots for Ponggal, but now that number has been halved,” he said.
He added that for Ponggal this year, the business was able to produce about 25,000 pots with the help of some local workers.
The pots were sold to Indian business enclaves in Brickfields, Sentul and Klang’s Little India.
“We do not lack in the natural resource that is clay, but we need skilled workers from India,” said Mahavisnoo.
“Most of these workers are aged between 45 and 55.
“I plead with the Government to approve work permits for these skilled Indian migrant workers, which will allow Malaysians to celebrate Ponggal with traditional earthen pots instead of silver pots,” he said.
Similarly, Aru Enterprise owner Arumugam Perumal said his production of clay pots for Ponggal in Kuala Selangor reduced by more than half in the last two years because of a shortage of workers.
However, his seven workers were able to produce 50,000 pots for this year’s celebration, close to the number in the pre-Covid years.
“I used to have 20 workers but since I have only a few left, some make these pots all year round to ensure there is enough stock for January.
“Last October, all workers were tasked with making the pots and later, decorating them.
“Over 5,000 pots were exported to Singapore,” he said.
Fourth-generation potter N.Vellu@Wadiveel, one of the partners in Jeyam Brothers Enterprise which is also based in Kuala Selangor, said due to the high demand for Ponggal pots, they were concentrating only on fulfilling orders from existing customers.
“Our output every year is about 15,000 pots.
“Due to a manpower shortage, we did not take on more orders. This was to retain our production quality.
“Since last October, all workers have been focused on making Ponggal pots,” he said.
Most of the pots on sale this year are similar to last year’s pots, decorated with colourful designs like mango leaves, flowers and religious symbols.
These pots were also reportedly being sold at a higher price compared to the prices of previous years.
In Klang, Indian grocery shop MV Fresh Market owner Munusamy Nadarajan, 65, had a hard time getting clay pots for his customers as the supplier from Kuala Selangor only allocated 900 pots for his shop as opposed to 1,500 pots before 2019.
“Just like in 2021 and 2022, there are fewer clay pots to sell.
“One small pot is now sold at RM12.90 while the bigger pot is priced at RM14.90.
“Pots are pricier now by an extra RM3, but customers buy the items to celebrate the festival,” he said.
Munusamy said another main item needed for Ponggal was sugarcane stalks and because of continuous rains last year, the harvest was poorer.
He is expecting to get 300 stalks compared to 600 last year.
Klang’s Sri Sundararaja Perumal Temple president S. Anandakrishnan said Tamils should make it a point to celebrate festivals like Ponggal to preserve their rich culture. Sri Sundararaja Perumal is one of the country’s oldest and largest Vaishnavite temples.“Celebrants will boil the milk at the auspicious time of 7.30am or 6.30pm to symbolise a happy future,” said Anandakrishnan.
