How Jasmine Aji built a thriving ‘neyyappam’ business despite losing her vision

Jasmine Aji's inspiring journey from adversity to success in running a business of ‘neyyappams’, a traditional rice-based snack in Kerala, despite vision loss and health issues.

It is a slightly steep climb up a narrow, barely-tarred road facing Vichattu Kavala bus stop — over 12 kilometres away from Thodupuzha — to reach Jasmine and Aji’s residence. The house overlooks a hill with patches of green, slightly elevated above a few dwellings with brick and metal roofings. There is a porch in the front covered with gravel on which ragi grains are laid down to dry, secured under a metal grill. 

Apart from the birds chirping, the only sound that persists is the quaint sizzle of hot oil. The source of this sound can be traced to a small neyyappam making unit, Appoos Homemade Foods, near the house. The sweet, rice-based fritter, prepared with rice flour, sugar, milk, semolina and a touch of cumin seeds, is fried in a metal mould with circular cells filled with palm oil, raging to turn the raw batter into crispy, sweet goodness. Unlike the usual neyyappams with a slightly larger radius, Jasmine’s are around two centimetres in diameter.

Right beside heaps of the snack kept to cool down before packing, a dozen women are at work, standing in two lines. On one end of the row, we see visually challenged Jasmine Aji, who owns and runs the unit, where around 120 kilograms of neyyappams are prepared daily. 

It was in 2001 that Jasmine developed a discomfort in her eyes. She and her husband, were then in Chennai, seeking treatment for their son Akhil (affectionately called Appoo), who has cerebral palsy, a neurological disorder affecting movement, posture, and balance.  

Jasmine was diagnosed with a condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which would progressively lead to complete blindness in old age. This genetic disorder affects the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye.

However, Jasmine had hope. “I was told by the doctors that maybe in five years, they might find a cure for this, with the development of medical science.” 

While treatments were going on for her and Akhil, Jasmine regularly visited the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health, Velankanni. It was one of the priests there, who asked her to start something of her own, to keep her mind away from the illnesses affecting her family.