CAN'T KEEP A DETERMINED WOMAN DOWN, SHOWS KERALA'S 1ST WOMAN TODDY TAPPER

Most men in Kerala would say this is a man's job. Most men in Kerala haven't met C Sheeja (40). As the state's first woman toddy tapper, a dangerous job, Sheeja has broken a glass ceiling. But that fashionable urban lingo seems strange applied to a courageous woman who doesn't have the luxury of a ceiling above her when she's at work, and where failure could mean a 40-ft plunge to the ground.

Toddy, the fermented sap of coconut flowers, is a favourite of Kerala tipplers, who are mostly men. As are most toddy tappers. Till Sheeja joined the trade in 2019. A resident of Panniyode, near Koothuparamba, she got a toddy tapping licence from Koothuparamba Excise Range in Kannur. She climbs around 10 palm trees every day, each tree thrice, early morning and late evening, to extract toddy. That's not all. At noon every day, she climbs again to prune overhanging palm fronds.

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The tools of the job are primitive. There's no safety harness. When Sheeja climbs a coconut palm tree, she uses a makeshift ladder of coconut husks, woven together.

Climbing 10 trees a day not difficult, but heat has made it tougher: Woman toddy tapper

Her job is to collect small pots that collect toddy. She has to be careful enough not to spill the toddy, and careful enough that she doesn’t lose her foothold.

Her story is the same as countless others all over India — a tragedy upended her family’s economics. A bike accident took her husband Jayakumar, a toddy tapper, out of work. There was a son and a daughter, too. Jayakumar suggested she take up his job. Her initial scepticism was reinforced by another family tragedy. Her brother had died of a fall while tapping toddy. But money problems were urgent.

When Sheeja first started practising, she felt dizzy and frequently lost her foothold. But perseverance won at the end. She needed that to negotiate male chauvinism as well.

A pro now, her day begins at 4am. She may be working, but the family as usual expects the mother and wife to prepare breakfast, and take care of other household chores. She heads out for work at 6am. By 9am, she taps around 10-litre toddy from 10 trees. Her husband then delivers the alcohol to the local toddy shop. Her wages for this risky job — Rs 100/litre of toddy collected. Hers is a seven-day a week job. Tipplers need their fresh toddy every day.

So unusual is her story and her determination that Sheeja is something of a local celebrity. She has won several local awards from social organisations and clubs. Her story had also reached CM Pinarayi Vijayan, who prides himself on his own toddy tapper background. His father was a professional toddy tapper.

Sheeja says she’s happy. She can support her family. Her work takes her to neighbourhoods she’s familiar with, and she meets people she knows. A chat over a snack, she says, means a lot to her during her working day. Summer, especially extreme heat, makes her already tough job tougher. “Normally, climbing ten trees is not difficult. But now, the heat has made the job challenging – I can manage seven or eight at best,” Sheeja said.

Does she think more women should work as toddy tappers? Yes, she says without hesitation. She acknowledges that doing a seven-day a week job as well as taking care of household chores can get overwhelming at times. But she says it’s vital for women to have financial independence.

Local men of ‘importance’, union leaders, panchayat members, now recognise what it took for Sheeja to break into a profession that was solely a male preserve. She doesn’t have a lot of time to sit and listen to compliments — every morning, at 6, after two hours of work at home, she’s out, ready to climb a tree — proving it’s very difficult to keep a determined woman down.