Toddyshop Gandhi

Original Source: https://www.jeyamohan.in/79162/

Date: 2-Oct-2015

(This article seems to have a translation already. https://thesabarmati.wordpress.com/2015/10/04/toddy-shop-gandhi/. Didn't notice it until about half of my translation. Proceeding to publish my translation as well).

I had been to Vaikom for some Cinema work a couple of days back. Friend Madhupal and Cinema producer Sukumar accompanied me. While returning back, when we were wondering where to have lunch, Sukumar called up his friend and enquired. That friend suggested a toddy shop in a place called Chempu*. This is a place where actor Mammooty was raised.

We enquired the place of the toddy shop. It was a shop thatched with palm leaves on the shore of Vembanad lake. Yet, it had several rooms; small rooms to consume toddy in private. It was late afternoon when we arrived, therefore the usual toddy consumers hadn't yet come. Mostly, people had come there for lunch. As Madhupal was an actor, he was given a royal welcome.

Smashed topiaco, Appam, beef curry, roasted pork and dishes like fish fry, cray fish fry, fried karimeen (Pearl spot fish), crab curry, clam curry were served to order. Sukumar is a great taster. Perhaps, food artist would be more apt. And toddy to go with it all.

I haven't consumed such a tasty food recently. Every dish was in its classical form of taste. All meats were fresh. Fishes felt like they were just taken out of water. Mild heat in dishes. Fresh coconut oil. No dish was unfresh. The shop did not even have a refrigerator. 

Hugging the cook, we praised him profusely and left. Only an expert can cook the beef fry impeccably. Cooked well, its a fry, else its fibrous. Pork is challenging in a different way. If not cooked well, it cannot be eaten and if overcooked, it could just melt in the plate. The dishes were so prepared as to be offered to the gods.

Because, its only the locals that visit this shop in Chempu. Even if its sub-standard for a day, they wouldn't visit the next day. Just by looking at the shop, it can be determined that the place is frequented by many. 'Sir. Half of the bars are closed, so this place is crowded. If you visit in the evening, 4 to 5 good folk singers would be present. If you can wait a bit, I can ask them to come now', the shop owner said. 'No. Got to go now', I replied. 'They would even perform mimicry and comedy, Sir'. The shop was immaculate.

Its a cultural center of that town. Nice drinks, good food, good entertainments. Drinks are meaningful, only if it is associated with entertainment. The TASMAC shops of Tamil Nadu are disgusting places. They are just clamorous always. The food served there can be assimilated only through the drinks. Only the left over food from other places are re-cooked and served there most probably.

There are places in Chennai which serve high quality entertainment along with drinks. But just visiting the place would hold us back by five thousand rupees. For the poor, drinking is a huge affliction and an entrapment. The Government picks him up, forces him to open up his purses and snatches away his money. Thrusts the chemical on him in return.

In comparison, I think, such toddy shops aren't harmful in any way. An entertainment center affordable for poor. Consuming toddy in droves doesn't create a patient out of someone rendering him useless. Doesn't addict him to the point of incapacitation. Doesn't empty his pockets even if consumed to the point of filling up the tummy. A cup of toddy costs just twenty five rupees. Even if one stayed throughout the night, he cannot drink beyond two hundred rupees.

A large potion of the sales cost for toddy reaches the farmer. It is the foundation of Kerala's rural economy. Toddy is an important liquor in Kerala and Andhra. But in Tamil Nadu, which has 3 times more palm trees and where a palm based economy was touted to have prevailed, toddy has been banned. The residues of Sugarcanes are procured, converted as liquor and is being sold with Government's seal and huge sums of money from that sale goes to the rich and politicians.

Being an arid place, the palms of Tamil Nadu are high in quality. Such a superior quality toddy is available only from a few places in Rayalaseema. Kerala's toddy is from coconut. It doesn't have the mild aroma and sweetness of palm. In the last decade, a wilt disease called Mandari affected Kerala's coconut trees impacting the coconut harvest completely. Toddy came to their rescue, else they would have been driven to suicide. The recent regulation on bars are also aiding them.

As we were returning, amidst our discussion, I was referring to Gandhi's movement of picketing toddy shops. It occurred to me that, if Gandhism is not considered a rigid religious faith, then toddy must be supported in today's circumstances. It is a rural industry, meant for local consumption. The business can happen only in small scale and is against the centralized crony capitalist organizations. It is closer to agrarian economy and is an alternate to the chemicals produced via large scale industry for huge profiteering.

Madhupal wondered as to what Gandhi would've remarked about beef. Gandhi spoke against cow slaughter throughout his life. But, not for an instant, would he agree to it being imposed as a majoritarian supremacy against minorities or as a regulation decreed by Government. He had always expounded a setup in which all minorities retained their complete freedom. That is his Ramarajya.

My view is that the ban against beef being brought about by some state governments is merely a state sponsored violence and the thought processes supporting it is, I think, Fascism. The heterogeneous society that India is, shall overthrow Fascism, I believe.

Therefore, I dedicate this day of Gandhi's birthday to that toddy shop. I shall understand this as me having a lunch with Gandhi at that toddy shop. 

 

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toddy_shop

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_wine

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaikom

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chempu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammootty

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vembanad

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appam

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_chromide

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TASMAC

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayalaseema

https://www.thenaruvi.com/products/coconut-mite/

 

https://www.mkgandhi.org/momgandhi/chap67.php

 

Notes:

* The original article refers to the place as Cherpu. But as per google maps, it doesn't seem to be near Vembanad lake. Instead there is Chempu, which seems to be fitting the description.