Recipe for Palm Leaf Kozhukattai

Ingredients:
Hand-ground raw rice flour - 1 kg
Palm jaggery in liquid form (vaarpu karupatti) - 3/4 kg
Grated coconut - One
Tender palm leaves - as required (minimum 25 to 30)

Method:
Mix the rice flour with vaarpu karupatti (liquid form of palm jaggery preserved in clay pot) and coconut, if required, add some water.


Clean the palm leaves and cut the center portion about 4 to 5 inch long.


Open the leaves and stuff the dough lengthwise and close the leaves. Tie with a thick thread. (You can use thinly cut palm leaves as thread). Finish all the dough like this.


Take a clay pot, pour water, keep small sticks and spread some palm leaves.  Then keep the kozhukattai preparations to boil in steam.  When it gets cooked, it is ready to eat. 


If you would like to keep it for 3-4 days, remove the palm leaves from cooked kozhukattai and keep it in a solavu (winnower) made out of palm leaf in an airy place.

Lighting Karthigai Dheepam with Palm-Leaf Kozhukattai

Kaarthigai Deepam [கார்த்திகை தீபம்] (celebrated December 08 in 2011),  is a festival of lights, celebrated in the Tamil month of Kaarthigai (Nov 17 - Dec 16 this year). It is celebrated on the full moon day of the Kaarthigai month.  In southern Tamil Nadu, it is a traditional practice that people make delicious 'panai olai kozhukattai' [பனை ஓலை கொழுக்கட்டை] made out of rice flour mixed with palm jaggery.  It is not only sweet, also sugar free, since the palm jaggery doesn't stay in the body.  This food is highly nutritious, which contains minerals and vitamins.  The speciality of this kozhukattai is that it is prepared covered by palm leaves and boiled in a pot; so it is eco-friendly.  Even today I could feel the taste of the kozhukattai with sweet smelling palm leaves.  It is culture-related.

We are to celebrate the festival in another few days, but I wonder if anyone will prepare this delicious panai-olai kozhukattai.  Even if so, they can be numbered.  Even if somebody wants to make this kozhukattai, where will they go for palm leaves?  No leaves?  Few years back, in southern districts, the community of palmyra tree toddy tappers used to make panai olai kozhukattai.  Also, it was easy for people from other communities to get palm leaves and palm jaggery to cook kozhukattai.  The toddy tappers would happily supply the palm leaves free of cost for brotherhood.  The situation has entirely changed now.  Very rarely the leaves are available in the market during this season.

People are not aware of the medicinal values of palm jaggery.  Its not just food.  Hence this practice, which was inseparable in our culture and heritage is slowly disappearing.  I am indeed panic over the fact that palm forests are destroyed.  Recently, I was discussing this issue with a celebrity, who also had similar painful experience of witnessing the deforestation of 45 acres of palmyrah forest, some years back in his birthplace, Sundaranachiyarpuram [சுந்தரநாச்சியார்புரம்].  Catholic priests those days felt that palmyrah toddy tappers are ruining their life and health by consuming palm toddy, which they considered as alcohol.  They thought they'll redeem the people from the practice by destroying the palmyra forest.  At least 8500 trees were cut.  Each tree takes minimum of 12 years to grow and yield.  They did not realize that it is not destruction of palmyra forest, but survival of a community, healthy environment, healthy food, medicine, and culture & heritage.  At the same time, the celebrity agreed with me that to change the practice of taking toddy, the palmyrah trees need not have been removed from Sundaranachiarpuram.  Our ancestors have taken pure toddy which is good for health.  If toddy is taken continuously for 40 days, it is good for eye sight.

Sweet idli, aappam, Toddy was used to make the mix sour.  Now yeast has replaced.  

During every season, we get some edible things from palm tree:

- From March to August, we get 'neera', contains lauric acid, which is found in breast milk.  So, its a natural health drink even for children.

- Palm jaggery and palm candy made out of boiled neera are good for cold, cough, asthma, cancer, and diabetes.

- Palm jaggery is preserved in another liquid form called 'vaarpu karupatti' in pots which they use for making sweets.  Whereas, palm jaggery is mostly used for making coffee.  This black coffee without milk can be consumed hot or cold anytime.

- Ice apple (nungu) is a cure for all diseases caused by heat in the tropical region like small pox.

- Palm fruit is not only tasty, but highly nutritious.

panankizhangu

- In the next season, i.e., from December to February, we get calcium and fiber-rich 'panai kizhangu', which is good for digestion.

In the life of Tamils, during all auspicious days, palm tree plays an inevitable role.  For marriage, palm fruits are used for decoration symbolizing the fullness of life.  A newborn Baby is given jaggery mixed with water as blessings from elders.

During Pongal festival, which is meant for Tamils, parents would present women colorful 'Seer Petti', a box made out of palm leaves filled with rice, sugar, coconut and other grocery essentials.  Now the colorful palm leaf boxes are replaced with harmful plastic buckets in this modern world.

It is high time to think about the emerging danger of losing palmyra trees, culture & heritage, survival and livelihood of palmyra tree toddy tapping community, which depends on palmyra trees for centuries.  When we welcome the modernity, let us take a pledge during this Karthigai Deepam, to go for reforestation of palmyra, our 'State Tree'.  Otherwise, we could witness the extinction of palmyrah trees which already happened in our neighbourhood state, Kerala.  As I conclude, let me remind volunteers of our Blaze Trust to join during Christmas holidays with us to spend with palmyra community, particularly with children.  Wish you a Happy Karthigai Dheepam. 

Children Parliament

- Palmyrah Community Children Program -

We are constantly focussing on children parliament program for palmyra toddy tappers’ community children.  The children, who are entrusted with portfolios with education, environment, and health & sanitation, are seriously taking their assignments and doing amazing work in the localities.  Amidst the palmyrah toddy tapping hamlets, these children are encouraging the enrolment of dropout children to schools, thereby helping us in our mission of eradicating child labor, which is more prevalent in this community.

One group of children are following the environmental impact of our project.  They are very much delighted to do this work like monitoring the increased number of birds in the surroundings of palm forest and also change the mindset of the people of the community to go for solar lanterns to use during the season in the thatched huts in the middle of forest instead of risky and polluting kerosene lamps.  Hence now it is time for us to generate funds for the distribution of solar lanterns to the community before the starting of next season.

In some areas, plastic garbage are found along on the way to palm forest.  These children are motivated to clean and have green surrounding by planting palm seedlings.

We have decided to celebrate our Christmas and invest the whole of Christmas holidays along with the palmyrah toddy tappers, particularly with the children.  The important agenda is not only to conduct awareness program on their surroundings and environment, but also to take them to nearby eco-tourist spots like Manappaadu, a natural beach.  This beautiful place has its own heritage for palm crafts where women from fisherfolk community as well as palmyrah toddy tapping community are trained to make handicrafts from palmyrah leaves. We also planned to deepen the existing ponds in that area with the help of youth and children.  Apart from our members, whoever is interested to join in this venture can enrol their names by e-mailing us at TrustBlaze@gmail.com. This is an open invitation to take part in this noble mission.

Blaze Trust

- Another milestone in our journey -

I am immensely happy to announce to all the volunteers, animators, students, who immersed themselves in the projects, which we are executing in Southern Tamil Nadu, particularly for the partakers of the one that we are doing from the year 2005 for palmyrah toddy tapping community, the formation of our Trust - ‘Blaze.’

Your are playing a very vital role in the field works, workshops, awareness programs on palmyrah tree and its embodiment with the environment.  The recent update from palmyrah toddy tappers community from Chettivilai locality stands a witness to successful implementation.  The palmyrah season just got over, which started in the early March.  Our community are able to store their produce by following the traditional technique of storage revived and taught by us.  Hence, they are happy that they can get fair prices for their produce during the off-season.  You all will be happy to know that they came out of the clutches of the moneylenders and they all have bank savings now.

Palmyrah tappers in Karupur

Hope you all remember that this is the community which questioned us when we insisted on savings during our financial literacy programs, “We are struggling for one meal a day and you are talking about saving money in the bank.  That too, we live in a remote village where there is no bank at all.”  This magical change is done by all our systematized, and well organized implementation of the project.

Happy Women from palmyrah community in an eco-friendly store room

We all felt that we can form an organization to carry out our project in a more effective and efficient manner.  After repeated discussions with all animators, volunteers, and the community leaders, palmyrah federations (that we formed), it is decided to go for a registered foundation.  Yes, due to our continuous effort, our Trust ‘Blaze’ is formed.  Hence, now we can go ahead with more enthusiasm.

While thanking all the active participants of this project, I earnestly request everyone to be with us and bestow your innovative ideas.

Access to Internet! Access to lands!!

Two-thirds of India makes its living from the land. The earth, the most generous employer of our country, employs over a billion people both directly and indirectly.

The World Bank’s Structural Adjustment policies leading to seed monopolies, the Free Trade policies of the World Trade Organization leading to a dramatic fall in prices and the Indian Government’s Special Economic Zone Act of 2005 leading to large-scale land acquisition have all pushed the Indian peasants to a crisis of survival.

Our state, Tamil Nadu, holds together more than 50 million people; among them more than 70% of the population depends on agriculture. In our state most of the farmers are resource poor and the farm activities are carried out through lake and well irrigation. Employment generation is possible only through the farming sector by increasing the cropping intensity and by integrating other farm enterprises.

It is famously said in India, “Farmers are born in debt, live in debt and die in debt.”  The year 1997 noted the first cases of farmers’ suicide in India.  Approximately 17,060 farmers committed suicide in India in 2006. 86% of those who committed suicide were debt-ridden. 34% debt-ridden farmers found money lenders extraction methods humiliating. 77% were 36 years old or above. 31% has mortgaged their land.

The river Thamirabarani is known as 'vattraadha Jeevanadhi' (வற்றாத ஜீவநதி)- the life-giving river, where  more fertile lands are available in the surrounding area.  The villages of Tirunelveli are ever-green lands where I was born, brought up, and studied.  I was very much disturbed when articles appeared in the newspapers regarding suicide of farmers because of the debt, popularly known as Kandhu Vatdi (கந்து வட்டி).  My research along with the students unit in college named 'SIFE', revealed some disheartening facts.  Even the farmers are not able to buy pesticides or fertilizers when the mortgage their lands to moneylenders and they are not able to retrieve the money spent.  The consequence is that they commit suicide.  Interactions with farmers as well as advisers encouraged our team to execute a project in southern districts of Tamil Nadu to help small farmers.  Thanks to Entomology Research Institute, Loyola College, Director, Dr. Ignacimuthu, and fellow scientist Dr. Maria Packiam, for invention of the biopesticide PONNEEM, which is a boon to farmers.

My students, under my guidance, distributed the biopesticide in northern districts of Tamil Nadu.  After witnessing the results, we zeroed-in to Tirunelveli District.

The villages of Tirunelveli suffer from acute poverty. Due to unemployment, the people resort to unsafe migration to urban areas which leads to scattering of families. The women are forced to work in hazardous occupations like the beedi rolling industries which cause severe health problems such as tuberculosis, asthma and cancer and even severe harm to their reproductive system.

After a thorough analysis and an in-depth study of various socioeconomic and demographic indicators of Tirunelveli, we identified the following problems and needs of the small farmers in Tirunelveli:

- Inability to purchase pesticides leading to severe pest menace, therefore the need for affordable and eco friendly pesticides.

- Overwhelming illiteracy and ignorance of government schemes, therefore the need for awareness about government welfare schemes.

- Rampant poverty and reliance on exploitative money lenders, therefore the need for government aids and loans.

- Poor productivity because of depleted soil, therefore the need for eco friendly fertilizers and biopesticides.

Hence, we decided to train the farmers to prepare the herbal formula, PONNEEM, a combination of Neem and Pongam oil, on their own.  We named it EcoGreen.  We felt proud that we had taken the lab to land or the scientific technology to rural farmers. On the contrary, we realized, during the course of time, after interaction with elderly people, the fact that this herbal formula is nothing new to them, but a forgotten age-old practice.

It is quite interesting.  We started learning several other organic farming techniques from them and revived among them.  We started in 10 villages among a small number of farmers and we are now able to reach hundreds of villages.  This herbal formula is proved to be beneficial and cost-effective, eco-friendly, and increases yield.

Yet, we felt that some major factor is lacking in our initiation.  After rigorous discussions, we came to a conclusion that these farmers must have the knowledge economy i.e., information; the reason being, the Agricultural Department of Tamil Nadu has opened a website exclusively for information to farmers.  In the villages where we work, they do not have access to computers and/or internet.  In the first phase, we selected 5 villages and distributed computers for internet access.

At first sight, they thought computer and TV do the same, but slowly they realized the potential of the information technology with the help of my students and the first generation trainers trained by us.

This would revolutionize the ways of farming in rural Tamil Nadu by enabling the farmers to be aware of

1.  Seed prices of various crops

2.  The market rates of crops

3.  Use of weather forecasts

4.  Upcoming and present government schemes.

I am really happy that me, along with student community, are able to bring smiles on the face of poor farmers.  Now, the farmers are able to access internet as well as their lands successfully.  I am grateful of Erbacher Foundation, Germany, for the grant of €25,000, which helped us for successful completion of the project.