ANNAMALAI T. is Pondicherry's fruit and vegetable man. A businessman with a background in pharmaceuticals who is now the franchisee for Chennai's popular Nilgiri�s store in Pondicherry. But yet, simple and unassuming, the kind of person who will slip into his store unannounced and take a trolley to do his own shopping. Nilgiri�s is a 101-year-old supermarket chain started by a Chennai entrepreneur called Chennippan. It has 36 outlets all over the South of India. Of these, Annamalai owns three in Bangalore and the one in Pondicherry which is ten years old. Additionally, Annamalai also owns two Kovai Pazhamudir Nilagam fruit and vegetable supermarkets in Pondicherry. There are 22 of these all over the South. His Pazhamudirs supply fruits and vegetables to all the restaurants and hotels in Pondicherry. But first, about Nilgiri�s, which is the place all Pondicheriens go to when they have serious shopping to do.

Nilgiri�s is the pioneer of the supermarkets in the South. About 40 years ago, it really came into its own. It has a bakery and dairy division that is very popular and Nilgiri�s also makes its own chocolates. The dairy is in Erode and the bakery and chocolate division in Bangalore. The products, as are the rest from Chennai, come from here. "Nilgiri�s takes care of the all day needs of customers," says Annamalai. "Mostly we swell perishables, food products and groceries make up 80 per cent of our stock." The store is staffed by friendly and helpful staff, though being a supermarket, you don't really need help accept at the payment counter. Everything is neatly laid out and open to see. Shoppers trundle trolleys down the aisles and load them with toiletries and other household requirements, as people do in shopping centres abroad. It is the easiest thing in the South of India to go shopping at a Nilgiri�s department store.

Nilgiri�s strength is its own brand for most products, including pulses, cheese in onion, pepper and tomato flavours, mozzarella, cheese spread, milk, shrikhand, set curd, butter, cooking butter, biscuits, brownies, plum cake, cup cakes, chappatis, wheat for tortillas, and breads, a variety of breads, including whole wheat, broken wheat, fruit, six grain, milk, sandwich, and coconut buns. It also sells consumer items, toiletries, and foods of all other popular brands. Annamalai and his father, who came from Chettinad in Tamil Nadu, run the Nilgiri�s stores together. They were wholesalers and distributors in pharmaceuticals for 30 years, that was their main business, before they ventured into Nilgiri�s and Pazhamudirs. Close to 1,500 customers shop at Nilgiri�s every day and Annamalai says they do the largest business in terms of volume and also have the biggest customer base in Pondicherry. Nilgiri�s is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.

The Pazhamudir outlets, on the other hand, which are just two years old in Pondicherry, are open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. The bigger outlet is the one in Pondicherry's Chetty Street. It is a 2,500 square feet store selling the freshest, most exotic fruit and vegetables available in the South of India. Annamalai says the fruits might be exotic, and they are seasonal, but not organic. The Pazhamudir gets the fruits and veggies from Ooty, Bangalore and Chennai. These are the local apples, pomegranates, bananas, pineapples, strawberries, figs, papayas, chickoos, guavas etc. The exotic foreign fruits like tangerines from US, yellow baby watermelons from Taiwan, white pears from China, kiwifruit from New Zealand, red pears from Philippines, sweet tamarind from Thailand, grapes from the Middle East, are imported by fruit contractors and brought to Pondicherry from Bangalore. There is a big demand for them from Pondicherry's French community. After you have paid for your purchases, on the way out of Pazamudir, stop for a fresh apple juice on the steps. Then take your weight on an interesting little machine that for one rupee will also give you your height and BMI!