Although when translated from the original Malayalam, it would read as ‘elephant sedative,’ the deadly chemical concoction that is known in Kerala street lingo as Aanamayakki has nothing to do with managing rogue pachyderms. It is used more to put the never-satiated but penurious tippler on a high. The trick is to mix a little of the chemical compound with toddy sourced, mostly, from coconut groves in Chittur taluk in Palakkad district.
The outcome is not just quite a few heads swinging to some ethereal music, but a successful business mantra. “Half a litre of Aanamayakki is enough to give a high to a well-built man. It is more economical than any of the Indian Made Foreign Liquor available in government’s retail outlets,” says a regular customer outside a toddy parlour at Olavakkod, on the outskirts of Palakkad town.
Or consider this: a bottle of booze named after Jesus Christ, something that would certainly sound strange anywhere in the world. But in Kerala, a section of toddy parlours sell the heady stuff that goes under the label of toddy, with the name of the Saviour, and the joke is that a person who consumes it would resurrect only on the third day! But not so, Manavatti , a coy variant of the intoxicating stuff, which is all shy like the bride and takes over ever so slowly.
Why make a song and dance about what Malayalis tipplers have been living with ever since the arrack ban of 1995? Elementary, the State government now promises to sell ‘good quality toddy’ through hotels with ratings upwards of three star and that cannot happen when Aanamayakki , Yesu or Manavatti are the avatars that the much sought-after toddy has assumed in these times. Quality toddy is a rarity these days even in Chittur, which is considered to be the heartland of toddy tapping and supply in Kerala, and that cannot but be bad news for the government which wants to promote toddy in a big way.
When The Hindu reached out to them, coconut farmers of Chittur, in the semi-arid eastern border region of Palakkad, were sceptical about being able to meet the demand. They feel that it would be difficult for star hotels to source quality toddy as contractors and distributors cannot but continue focussing on production of synthetic alternatives with toxic chemical composition and high alcoholic content if they are to make a fast buck. “Toddy is getting adulterated mainly inside the trucks that carry the stuff to faraway destinations. To avoid surprise check by Excise officials, the process of making synthetic alternatives takes place mainly inside moving vehicles,” said K.B. Suman, a rights activist based in Muthalamada.
Summer demand
Normally, toddy has a huge demand during the hot summer months but, sadly, this is also the time when there would be a steep fall in daily production. During monsoon, the production would be high but there would hardly be any takers. In the absence of appropriate technology to preserve the stuff for summer months, the farmers would have no other option but to empty the cans in their farms.
Chittur MLA and veteran Left Democratic Front (LDF) leader K. Krishnankutty, himself a home-grown expert in agriculture, says the government’s announcement would have no impact on the lives of people in his constituency. “Climate change and multiple diseases afflicting coconut palms have hit productivity across Chittur taluk. Although coconut growers and Excise Department officials confirm that the actual toddy production in Chittur is way below the demand, supply has never been disrupted even during the hot summer months. This means the spurious liquor lobby is going great guns,” he says.
He does not see any logic in the government decision when nothing has been done so far to keep the productivity high and preserve the original brand value of toddy. “How can star hotels source pure toddy from a region where production is falling alarmingly due to a variety of reasons? The first priority of the government should be to help the coconut groves to survive adverse impacts of climate change. Also, how among those who patronise bars in star hotels would want to have smelly toddy?”
According to him, a similar experiment in Sri Lanka had come a cropper. To avoid a similar fate in Kerala, he suggests revival of the decades-old proposal to promote manufacture of packaged toddy as a branded alcoholic beverage. This, he says, can be done using the technology developed by Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) decades ago, with appropriate changes in keeping with technological changes. “We will then be able to utilise effectively the excess production during rainy months,” he says.
District Congress Committee (DCC) vice president Sumesh Achuthan shares the same view. “The government move would have only cosmetic effect as sourcing pure toddy remains strenuous during most of the months in a year. The toddy producing regions require the necessary technology and government support to preserve the excess toddy generated during monsoon days,’’ he says. Around two years ago, Sumesh’s father and former Congress MLA K. Achuthan had ended his toddy business of some three-and-a-half decades owing to severe pressure from the then KPCC president V. .M Sudheeran.
Synthetic alternatives
According to people in the know of things, synthetic alternatives are prepared in the dead of the night and that too with the connivance of Excise officials. Spurious alternatives are plenty, and they even contain narcotic substances. “It would be very difficult for star hotels to source pure toddy. Last summer, there was an alarming fall in toddy production. Local parlours were forced to end the business by noon everyday owing to poor supply. However, the business was least hit in other parts of the State,” says K.G. Kannadas, who works at a toddy shop at Govindapuram on the way to Pollachi in Tamil Nadu.
So far, the Excise Department has issued 1,300 permits to enable transportation of toddy from Chittur taluk to cater to the needs of some 4,000 licensed outlets across the State. Quality checks are practically nil here with the department facing acute shortage of staff. Rain or shine, more than 3,00,000 litres of toddy is transported a day from Chittur to other parts of the State. “Tacit support of the Excise Department personnel encourages spurious liquor business in Chittur. In fact, police and Excise officials are part of the alternative mechanism,” alleges social activist and environmentalist S. Guruvayurappan.
Daily consumption
The daily consumption of toddy in the State, going by what prohibitionists say, is around 2,00,000 litres more than the actual quantity produced, which simply means that market for toddy is dominated by the spurious concoctions. Forensic chemical examinations have found that the toddy available in Chittur contains chloral hydrate, a sedative and hypnotic drug. A chemical concoction of saccharine, lead, sulphated ash and benzoic acid is also used for making spurious toddy.
Insiders say bootleggers mix 70 litres of illicit spirit to 100 litres of genuine toddy and lace it with 100 gm each of various chemicals with water as the base to make 1,000 litres of fake toddy. The actual production cost of genuine toddy is ₹50 a litre. However, the same quantity of spurious toddy can be manufactured for less than ₹5 a litre and it is retailed at ₹80 or more through licensed outlets.
Most of the toddy tapping in the Chittur taluk happens in areas such as Meenakshipuram, Gopalapuram, Perumatti, Eruthempathy and Vadakarapathy, where coconut groves are in bad shape. Apart from traditional tappers who have migrated from Alappuzha district, there are many newly trained tappers who hail from the Pollachi region of Tamil Nadu. An average tapper climbs a maximum of 15 trees a day and each tree generates a maximum of five litres. A tapper gets ₹9 a litre apart from a daily dearness allowance of ₹185. As the work involves heavy physical strain, there is a severe shortage of trained tree climbers as well.
“The government has to end the flow of spurious toddy. As a first step, the authorities should issue special identity cards to registered tappers. Now, there is no restriction on those who wish to engage in toddy tapping. A mafia controls the business in Chittur and it has the backing of major political parties across the spectrum,’’ alleges Mr Krishnankutty.
According to local farmers, it was the peculiarity of the soil in the semi-arid region that once helped coconut cultivation thrive in Chittur taluk. “Many farmers had invested heavily on the sweet toddy-based Neera manufacturing sector believing the promises given by the government. Now, it seems the Neera movement has lost steam. Pure and hygienic toddy is a distant dream. If the government too wishes to make that a reality, it will have to really struggle hard,’’ says farmer Arumughan Pathichira.
“Making it a safe health drink is not so easy in the given circumstances. Adulteration happens on many occasions before it is served to the needy. Even parlours in the Chittur region are struggling hard to source pure toddy,’’ he adds, clearly hinting at the stiff climb that awaits the government if wish to take toddy to the tables in star bars is to become a reality.
