A Christian priest’s concern for the vanishing palmyra trees has prompted him to travel all the way from Mumbai to the coastlines passing through Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Kanniyakumari and Puducherry, and document the devastation.
Rev. Godson Samuel, priest of a Methodist Church in Mumbai, hailing from Peruvizhai near Nagercoil in Kanniyakumari district, through his book and documentary gives an insight into the reality of the waning palmyra trees, an eternal source of food for humans and animals. “When I was a child, there were nearly 24 lakh palmyra trees in Kanniyakumari and now it is less than 2 lakh,” he told The Hindu during his visit to the French Institute of Pondicherry.
He was in Puducherry to interview scholars and record the association of people with palmyra trees as part of his documentary. His book, which documents his 18-day journey from Mumbai to Kanniyakumari, and the livelihood and material culture related to palmyra trees, will be released in January.
‘Source of food’
Recalling that his fascination for palm trees goes back to his childhood days, he says: “I grew up in a district with plenty of palmyra trees. A food lover, I have seen different sources of food come from this tree.”
Rev. Samuel adds: “We get two drinks from this tree – neera ( padaneer - unfermented sap) and toddy. We use toddy in our homes to make appam. It is an accepted food with permitted quantity of toddy. These two drinks have different chemical components and tastes differently.”
“After three months of padaneer season, there would be ice apples ( nungu ). We used to get them for free and it was healthy. After six months, we used to get panam pazham (ripened fruit). You could consume it either by cooking or roasting it.”
He adds: “After the panam pazham , we would get palm tubers which were edible too. We would dry it, powder it and use it to prepare puttu (steamed cake). Then we would get palm jaggery which was used to sweeten coffee and make different snacks. The trees would give us food throughout the year. The logs are used to make different materials. An expert had recorded 801 uses of palmyra trees.”
Benefits aplenty
However, Rev. Samuel is worried about the destruction of these trees in the name of development. “Rubber plantations are replacing palmyra trees in Kanniyakumari. Instead of growing palmyra trees, we only see coconut trees and others that consume more water. I wanted to know why people are doing this. There are so many communities dependent on these trees. They stop soil erosion and could be used as bio-fence to keep away elephants,” he says.
His documentary has been titled ‘ Palymra Pilgrim ’ and he is working in association with the Henry Martin Institute, Hyderabad, to make a documentary.
