CHENNAI: Maavaliyo maavuli, maavalikaaran porali, declared the lines of a rather poignant song. The past weekend, 560 maavalikaarargal gathered in celebration and a kind of revolution as they lit the evening bright with the burning embers of the palm crackers.
The record event they registered on Saturday night (lighting the most number of maavalis in a single event) was one of the many torch-bearers to the idea of sustainability and conservation of the palm way of life presented at the two-day Panai Kanavu Thiruvizha (Palmyra Dream Festival) held at Narasinganur, Villupuram.
All for one
For two days hundreds of people from all across the state set camp at the panangkaadu — pitching tents, erecting makeshift restrooms, cooking for a tiny village and entertaining the children. As stalls bearing everything from seeds of reclaimed species to wild honey, and palm leaf art and handicraft to organic sweets and savouries, lined the perimeter of the sprawling panai pannai, cultural performances and panel discussions took centrestage.
Fed on the end-of-season supply of pathaneer and mass-cooked meals of kanji and brinji, it was a thiruvizha like any other yet unlike any you may have witnessed before. For this brought together people of all class, caste and religion for the cause of the palm, everything that’s been accomplished so far and everything that’s still in the waiting. “In ancient days, the thiruvizha was a safe space for different tribes to gather and partake in activities. It was a way to rid of the fear of each other, of new people. We need to create such an environment for people to come together for this cause. With this festival, we want people to come to the panangkaadu and enjoy, know what this is about,” says Godson Samuel, priest and founder of Panai Nadu.
It’s been in the making for five years now, begins Panaiyeri Pandiyan, one of the organisers of the event hosted by Panangkaadu Arakattalai and News7 Tamil Agri channel. The bulk of the work, however, came together in a matter of week, bringing this long-standing dream to reality. “We want people to look beyond palm economy, palm conservation, palm-based foods to the palm workers; to take notice of this section of people and want to work for their welfare. It’s only when a profession is looked at as a means of livelihood and not just as a source of economy will it be sustainable, moral and right,” he suggests.
Of interference and intervention
Till today, despite a standing order from the commissioner of police instructing cops to not harass palm workers, the latter has not been freed from the oppressive system of false complaints, bribes and illegal activity. Amid such targeted trouble, communities like that in Narasinganur that stand united are few and far apart. Even that takes years of organising and awareness building. This thiruvizha, in a way, is a means to do just that among a larger group of people.
“We could be holding the same festival in a grand manner in Chennai. However, people there wouldn’t know how the trees look like, what its products are, the challenges it presents, the climate of these spaces, the actual work of scaling the trees to get these products or the tools used. People find it easy to say that we need to come up with a machine to do this work. But that’s for the future. We need to look at the needs of these people today. That we will find out only when we are here, among them,” explains Godson.
While there’s much that the government could be doing to protect the livelihood of palm workers, Pandiyan says, “Our singular demand is freedom of work. We are not expecting subsidiaries or monetary aid, we only need the freedom to do the work we do. Complete removal of toddy ban is a big part of that.” Besides, a census of palm trees and palm workers would go a long way in addressing their problems, given that the government is still working off old estimates. Representation in the palm welfare board is vital too, he adds.
Embracing the palm
In the meantime, the community is keen doing unto themselves what no one else has stepped up to do. Establishing a Nammalvar Book of Records to acknowledge and honour the feats of our populace is one such initiative. The two-day festival concluded with palm warriors being honoured with awards — youngest panaiyeri (9 year old Andrews), oldest panaiyeri (85-year-old Kaaliannan), palm food proponent (Akhila of Chennai), palm farmer (Moses of Narasinganur) and more.
While people embroiled in the palm ecosystem are already doing all they can to embrace the palm way of life, the festival is a way for them to reach out to the rest of us, and bring us into the fold too. “This is the one tree that will find only where there are humans. Without this human interaction, this tree wouldn’t survive. It’s this connection that we want to highlight. So, we see this as just the beginning,” states Godson. What’s to come may just depend you and me.