Next is the tour to Thovalai, the market of flowers. Thovalai is a beautiful village surrounded by hills and located in the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. Thovalai stands first in Asia in the field of generation of electricity from wind.
The main attraction and the major source of income of the place is flower trade. Majority of the people of this village are engaged in the floral industry. Thovalai is a place of natural beauty. Murugan Kovil, a temple on top of the hill, is a famous one. The village of Thovalai can be seen almost wholly from the top of this hill. The paddy fields, the flower farms that extend to even the boundaries of each house and the lively Tamil village life are something to be seen and enjoyed.
Thovalai is the main fresh flower source of Kerala. The fresh flower market that starts early in the morning are something that should not be missed out. Wild jasmine, Chrysanthemum, Globe Amaranth [Vadamalli], Jasmine, etc. among others create a world of colors in the flower market.
Flowers are sold wholesale as well as retail in this market. Here, we can see people sitting and making flower garlands; making garlands of different colors and different sizes with hands that move faster than machines needs a tremendous amount of skill.
The scent of the flowers, the bustle of flower bidding, all these create a festival atmosphere when the market is open. The celebration of colors that can be seen here is the result of hard work that the members each family put in.
Thovalai fresh flower market can aptly be described as a group of hills of varied colors. Flower farms of different sizes and having different colors that we see on the sides of Nagercoil-Thirunelli highway and the interior regions, as well as vast areas of windmills add to the beautiful morning scenery of Thovalai.
The important flowers of Thovalai are Jasmine and Wild Jasmine. The festivals of Malayalis are best remembered by the people of Thovalai as the flower farming is based on the festivals and celebrations of Malayalis; especially, the Onam Festival celebrated by Malayalis is a season of plenty for Thovalai. They take a lot of pain to make flowers of different types available from Atham itself, which is the first day of Onam celebration.
I met with a person in Thovalai who took me to a place saying that he will show me something. What I saw left me wonderstruck. I saw a large piece of turf. Only when I went close did I understand that it is a forest of basil plants [Tulsi]. It extends to around 10 acres of land. Around 200 to 250 kilos of basil flowers are transported daily from here to Guruvayur Temple. In Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari Districts, there is around thousand acres of land cultivated with basil.
The flowers available in Thovalai Market are not just the ones cultivated here. Flowers from Hosur, Rajapalayam, Dindigul and Madurai as well as roses and decoration flowers from Bangalore are also available in Thovalai. Seeing and hearing the story of colors left me with a smile on my face and I left the place with that smile.
