Lourdusaami, take a bow. He is about 70 years old and he still climbs 5 palmyra trees, every morning and evening, 6 months of the year. Out of the 6 months of the year, he converts the palmyra sap to palmyra jaggery about 4 months of the year. That is when we have more than what we can practically carry on a cycle or TVS XL100 to the nearby villages. The season for palmyra jaggery has ended a couple of weeks back at the farm because the collection of sap has reduced. We are selling Padhaneer in the nearby village, Agasthiyarpuram, these days.
In case you have ever wondered, we have a lot of villages, localities, roads, organizations named after the sage Agasthiyar, whose abode was in the nearby Agasthiyarmalai.
The palmyra sap can be tapped only when it is flowering, not once it has started fruiting. Even then, it is possible to ensure year round palmyra sap collection in a farm like ours where we have a huge number of trees, flowering at different times of the year. But because of his age, Lourdusaami is able to tap the inflorescence only in the younger shorter trees. He either uses a bamboo ladder or ties wooden sticks on the palmyra trunk to act as a ladder. So, we get padhaneer a.k.a. palmyra sap a.k.a neera about 6 months a year.
This is the 3rd year, Lourdusaami has renewed his career as a Panayeri, Palmyra Tree Climber, after a hiatus of almost 2 decades, or that’s what he claims. Lack of vision in one of his eyes hasn’t hindered his ability to climb and tap the trees. He says he toils hard everyday so that he can provide a life for his grandchildren better than what he experienced.
I have shifted my work from a more hands on approach at the farm in the first few years of this initiative to more of a trader helping other farmers like Lourdusaami sell produce. Daily physical activity has reduced quite a bit. I wish I am as fit as Lourdusaami when i turn a septugenarian. Must find a daily activity in the farm to get back to brass tacks.
Regards
Sudhakar