August 16, 2011

For anybody living in the coastal belt of India, the poor man’s alcoholic drink TODDY is not uncommon. We will also have noticed the way toddy tappers in India collect their toddy from up the coconut tree or the palmyrah tree.

During my recent visit to Sri Lanka, our tour escort insisted that we taste their local toddy, which is known as “Kallu”. Interestingly we found a place quite early in the morning along the west coast in Beruwela, a place where they sold fresh toddy, just brought down the coconut trees. The sweet extract tasted deliciously good but also gave an instant intoxicating feeling.

Toddy is the sap from palm, palmyrah, or coconut trees used as a beverage and sometimes as an alternative to yeast to foment rice flour. To collect the sap, the flower bud is cut at the tip before it blossoms and an earthen pot is hung to collect it. This traditional method of collecting toddy is slowly becoming a rare scene largely due to government restrictions and non- availability of skilled hands to actually do the job.

Toddy tapping was not new to me at all, as I have seen it many times as a child in villages in and around Mangalore. But what fascinated me was the way the Sri Lankan toddy tappers went about with their work. Coconut trees are high and far apart. If one tapper has to cover as many as 10 trees, it is very hard for him to scale the trees repeatedly. To avoid the hassle and to save time, they have evolved a quick but a risky method of transferring themselves from one tree to another without actually climbing down.

They tie strong three-stranded ropes made out of coconut fiber (coir). When the tapper finishes one tree, he races to the other adjacent tree placing his feet on the unsteady rope and a separate rope to hold him from falling. They rely on the speed as it minimizes losing the balance and accidently falling down to the ground. It was a breath-taking event for me to see the toddy tapper criss-crossing the trees on the flimsy ropes just like a circus trapeze artist, but without a safety net below.

Apparently there have been unfortunate events in many cases where they have slipped and fallen down to the ground either to their death or to permanent injury. Unfortunately, even today, toddy tappers in Sri Lanka are some of the poorest people, relying heavily on the income they get from selling their toddy. Taking this big risk is a small price they pay to feed their families.