{"slides": [{"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/0_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/0_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Meet Karukavel Nadar \u2013 a \u00a0man who, each season, climbs close to 5,000 feet daily\u00a0 (more than twice the height of the Empire\nState Building in New York) for a living. He climbs those trees to tap them for\na sap that can either become palm molasses \u00a0(jaggery), or the fermented\u00a0 palm wine known as toddy. In Ramnad district\nof Tamil Nadu, where I shot these photos in May 1993 on a Nikon F-3, it had to\nbe molasses \u2013 toddy was banned \n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "https://soundcloud.com/ruralindia/photo-1-toddy-ta", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/0_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/1_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/1_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>The tree he\u2019s shinning up now is around 35\nfeet high. A single fall could kill or cripple him forever. And he will do this\nwith 50 such trees three times daily. The trees are not his own. He and his two\nbrothers have leased them from the landowner for Rs. 3,000 a month. Not an\ninsignificant sum in 1993\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475693", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/1_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/2_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/2_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nKarukavel\nbelongs to a sub-group within the Nadar community called the <i>pannayeri</i> Nadars, or palm tree-climbing\nNadars. His brothers and he, who live in the village of Porpandipuram of Ramnad\ndistrict, borrowed that Rs. 3,000 from\ntheir commission agent at an interest of 36 per cent. The same man is also\ntheir wholesaler \n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475692", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/2_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/3_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/3_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><br/><p>He\u2019s grinning at us because he\u2019s rarely seen\nsuch a funny sight. My friends had parked an ancient jeep against a tree very\nclose to the one he was climbing. They had a thick mattress laid out on top of\nthe jeep and we borrowed a very tall stool from a school next door. At least\ntwo friends were perched on the sides of the jeep holding the legs of the\nstool.\u00a0 I teetered precariously on top of\nthat stool, holding the camera at close to 15 feet from the ground.\u00a0 Karukavel made eye contact with me as moved\nup his tree. He probably felt someone needed to take a picture of us clowns\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475689", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/3_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/4_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/4_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>This is where it gets really dangerous. The\n\u2018branches\u2019 of coconut\u00a0 and most other\npalms\u00a0 are actually large, strong crown leaves\u00a0 and supporting fronds\u00a0 that are not quite the solid wood of\u00a0 branches on\u00a0\nother\u00a0 trees.\u00a0 He\u2019s well over 30 feet from the ground, balancing\non these projections. He\u2019s holding on to one of these\u00a0 with one hand, while wielding a sickle with\nthe other, to cut into and tap the sap \n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475686", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/4_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/5_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/5_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>He\u2019s made that incision he needs to, using\nhis sickle. By the day\u2019s end he will make more than one. The sap he collects can\n\u00a0either end up as <i>pannai vellam</i>, palm jaggery, or as the palm wine called toddy \n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475684", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/5_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/6_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/6_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Karukavel parks his sickle in his waistband,\nstill holding on to the tree with one hand. We got scared just watching him do\nthis\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475683", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/6_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/7_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/7_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>He attaches a clay pot to the place he cut\ninto with his sickle. Both his hands are needed for this operation and so this\nis where he is at his most vulnerable, at greatest risk. The sap will ooze into\nthe pot.\u00a0 For much of the season, it will\nfill the pot in 2-3 hours, requiring him to go back up the tree, unhook the filled\npot and replace it with an empty one.\u00a0\nThat could mean three times up and three times down on each of 40-50\ntrees in a day \n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475682", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/7_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/8_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/8_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Karukavel has firmly parked the pot in\nplace, making sure the sap goes right into it. Then, he begins his downward\nclimb. Going down looks much easier \u2013 but the risks are never absent\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475680", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/8_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/9_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/9_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>He\u2019s not even come down a third of the\ntree\u2019s height, which should give you a sense of how tall it is. You can also\nsee that the nearby trees he will attend to next are of equal or similar height\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475676", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/9_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/10_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/10_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Back at eye level with a safe but shaken\nphotographer, who got frightened just watching him make that climb\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475675", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/10_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/11_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/11_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>In another village, Rani Nadar, wife of\ntapper Ratnapandi Nadar, boils and cooks the juice he has collected in the huge\nvessel that is the one possession in \u00a0their\nhut that is of any value\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475673", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/11_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/12_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/12_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Rani has poured the paste into empty\ncoconut shells where it forms neatly shaped lumps of palm jaggery. Many people\nfind palm jaggery sweeter and of better quality than cane jaggery\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475672", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/12_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/13_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/13_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Their commission agent will reap the reward\nof their labour. At the market, he will realise a far better price for the\njaggery than what he paid them in the village\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475669", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/13_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/14_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/14_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Karukavel\u2019s wife and their two infants wait\nby the workplace hut that gives them some relief from the scorching heat of the\nRamnad sun\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475668", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/14_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/15_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/15_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>Karukavel with one of his two brothers\nduring a break. During the season, each of the three brothers would make\nroughly Rs. 600 a month. Off-season they\u2019d have to do other work, like slaving\nin Ramnad\u2019s exploitative salt pans\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475667", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/15_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}, {"type": "image", "show_title": "True", "album_title": "Toddy tapper", "src": "/media/original_images/16_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.jpg", "src_resized": "/media/images/16_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg", "description": "<div class=\"rich-text\"><p>The brothers with their families \u2013 at the\nend of another tough day at the office\n\n\n\n\n\n</p></div>", "album_description": "<p>Karukavel Nadar climbs 5,000 feet daily during season to tap sap from the straight and high trunks of palm trees \u00a0<br/></p>", "url": "/mr/albums/toddy-tapper/", "slide_photographer": ["P. Sainath"], "image_captured_date": "25 Nov,2015", "slide_location": "Ramanathapuram, Tamil Nadu", "track_id": "234475666", "embed": "", "carousel_html": "<img src=\"/media/images/16_PS_Toddy_tapper_talking_album.height-876.jpg\" />"}], "authors": [{"type": "inline", "show_title": "False", "name": "P. Sainath", "bio": "P. Sainath is Founder Editor, People's Archive of Rural India. He has been a rural reporter for decades and is the author of 'Everybody Loves a Good Drought' and 'The Last Heroes: Foot Soldiers of Indian Freedom'.", "twitter_username": "PSainath_org", "facebook_username": null, "email": "[email protected]", "website": "http://psainath.org/", "author_url": "/mr/authors/p-sainath/"}]}

talking_album