Lockdown Blues: Tipplers Raise Toast To Tadi In Odisha’s Kendrapara

Kendrapara: Tipplers in Kendrapara district are on a high, literally. With liquor shops shut during the lockdown, ‘Tadi’ — the fermented sap of date palm tree — has become the new toast for booze lovers.

And Tadi sellers are more than happy to oblige the “thirsty” crowd. “The lockdown has given an unexpected boost to our trade as we are making good money due to the emerging situation,” said Jiban Behera, a date palm juice seller at Rajnagar.

According to Jiban, , as quoted by the New Indian Express, large numbers of people are now flocking to villages to buy Tadi early in the morning.

With a glass of Tadi selling for only Rs 20, it’s also pocket friendly to booze lovers during the lockdown.

On their part, Tadi sellers are required to pay auction money to the government for collecting the juice from roadside date palm trees.

In many villages, owners and lease holders of date palm trees collect the juice with the help of Tadi collectors. These collectors climb on the trees to fix earthen pots for collection of juice. Early in the morning, they bring down the pots and sell fresh Tadi to the people.

Explaining about the process of Tadi tapping, Sarat Behera, a collector, said a patch of the palm tree is shaved at the top in the afternoon and a soil-made pot is hung below for collection of the sap. The sap-filled pot is collected in the morning. A date palm tree can produce around 350-450 litre of fresh juice in a year, he informed.

Usually during the summer, people gather near date palm trees for Tadi which is treated as a cool drink in rural parts of the district. And it’s legal too.

However, many Tadi sellers mix liquor, sleeping pills, urea and other sedatives in the date palm juice and sell it to people to earn extra money. “We are regularly examining the Tadi being sold in different villages and action is being taken against persons found adulterating the sap,” said Excise Superintendent Basantiprava Nayak.