“Some days the rain makes me tired, some days it makes me feel alive, and some days it just makes me miss my village. Today it’s doing all three at once. But I’ve learned one thing in twenty years on the road, you can never sit idle and expect life to hand you something.

I’m Muthupandi, from Ramanathapuram, near Rameshwaram. Back home I’m a farmer first. Karupatti, our traditional palm jaggery, comes from the same soil I grew up working. But farming alone couldn’t carry my family forward, so I became a traveller too, then a businessman, and now, in a way, a promoter of my own village’s craft.

I started with one old truck and zero contacts outside Tamil Nadu. No shortcuts, no false promises, just honest weight and honest price, every single time. That’s the one rule I never broke, even on days business was slow and it would’ve been easier to cut corners.

The road has been my real teacher. I’ve shared tea with strangers in many states across India, slept in the truck through cyclones, dealt with customers in languages I don’t fully understand, and still walked away smiling. You meet all kinds of people out here, some ask for major discounts, most don’t, and slowly you learn to tell the difference just by how a man shakes your hand.

My family back home has stood behind every trip, even when I couldn’t promise how the month would go. Whenever I come to Hyderabad, I make sure I don’t go back empty handed for them, bangles and new clothes for my children, and always some Hyderabadi handicrafts and bakery biscuits. And before I leave, I never miss having a plate of Hyderabadi Dum Biryani here, that’s become part of the routine now.

Hyderabad has given me more than sales, it’s given me respect. People here don’t just buy, they ask, they listen, they remember my name the next time I pass through.

I’m not chasing something big. I’m just a farmer who refused to sit idle, and decided the whole country deserved a taste of what my village makes with its own two hands.”

• Muthupandi, Palm Jaggery Vendor