E P Salimon may not look the part but this unassuming toddy tapper earns as much as, say, the hep manager of a new-gen bank. He makes approximately Rs 4,000 per day or roughly about Rs 1.25 lakh per month during the summer months, when the blistering heat forces people to seek something cheap and cold to lift their spirits.
Palm trees are taken on lease by toddy shop owners and for one litre of toddy ¡ª which costs between Rs 60 to 70 ¡ª the tree owner gets Rs 30 while the toddy tapper gets Rs 18.
During peak season, Salimon taps around 210 litres of toddy and since he¡¯s a member of Kerala Toddy Workers¡¯ Welfare Fund Board, he also gets Rs 302 as daily allowance. There is PF and gratuity too from the welfare board and to, top it, an annual bonus ¨C last year he got Rs 2.5 lakh.
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Of course, Salimon is an exception in a profession which, with the advent of the much stronger and official sounding Indian Made Foreign Liquor, has few aspirants these days. ¡°No youngsters are coming forward to take up this job. It is even tough to get a substitute tapper when I want to take a day off,¡± Salimon says.
As if to make up for that, he works extra hard. Recently, the state government honoured him for tapping the largest quantity of palm toddy, an astounding 40,000 litres in the last financial year. It helps that Madappad in Kooroppada panchayath, from where he hails, has palm trees in large numbers. The toddy shops in the area serve only palm toddy.
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A toddy tapper for the last 32 years, Salimon works 365 days a year, irrespective of the weather. His work normally starts at 7am and ends by 7pm. "Taking a day off is out of question as the toddy has to be supplied daily,¡± he says.
He turns emotional when he reveals that he has to skip family functions and other programmes. ¡°If I go somewhere, I am really tensed till I return to work,¡± says Salimon, who used to be the branch secretary of CPM but quit as it was difficult for him to find time for party activities.
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He has constructed a house in a 50-cent property. His elder daughter is doing her M Com while the younger one has completed B Com. He has an autorickshaw in which he goes around tapping and collecting toddy.
"My father too was a toddy tapper but he used to drink heavily," says Salimon who is a compulsive teetotaller. ¡°I have seen the way my father lived which made me aware of good and bad. I have to educate my daughters and marry them off. I will use the money I earn for that¡±. Well, that¡¯s the spirit.