Choosing crackers for a terrace, a street or an open ground
Where you light matters more than what you buy. How to match items to the space you actually have.
A day in Sivakasi during the cracker season
What to see, where to eat and how to get around if you come to buy at the factory gate in October.
Every season a few hundred families drive to Sivakasi to buy in person and see where their crackers come from. If you plan to come, a little preparation makes the day easier.
Sivakasi is about 75 km south-west of Madurai, roughly an hour and forty minutes by road. Virudhunagar, the nearest large railway station, is 25 km away. Come early. Sattur Road and the town centre are crowded from noon in October, with vans, lorries and buyers from four states. Weekdays are much calmer than Sundays.
At our godown you can walk the shelves, see samples of each item and pay by UPI. We pack your carton while you wait, usually within an hour. Please do not bring children under ten into the packing area, and leave lighters and cigarettes in the car; the whole street follows the same rule.
While you wait, Sivakasi has more than fireworks. It is also a printing town, and the lanes behind the bus stand are full of presses making calendars, diaries and wedding cards for the new year. The Bhadrakali Amman temple in the centre is worth a short visit. For lunch, the parotta shops on the Virudhunagar side are famous across the district, with thin layered parottas and salna. If you are driving home the same day, leave by four; the highway towards Madurai fills up with goods traffic after dark.
