The Nolen Gur Makers of Patamda                   

Photo credits : Rajat Ghosh

 

From the depth of Bankura comes a different breed of entrepreneurs. They know that they are skilled in making fresh jaggery which is a hot seller in the cold winter. Having discovered that Patamda has a large number of palm trees they were able to bring along their team of tappers.

 

The tree

These are date palm trees, very different from the fruit available in the Middle East. The fruit is small and typical to this region, but the juice is sweet and ideal for processing.

 

The tapper

These are professional climbers of trees but they are also skilled in giving that part of the tree the right cut with a V shape to allow the white juice to flow into the attached jar tied underneath.

 

Jaggery

There are several teams placed in Patamda. The team consists of the toddy tapper, the supervisor, the toddy collector and the person who tends to the fire. A lot of sensitivity to the environment is observed namely – they use the fallen palm from the tree for fire. They build a temporary hut constructed by bending twigs and covered with plastic roofing and topped with branches. This is the resting house during the day.

 The process

Early in the morning the experienced toddy tapper climbs the tree, unties the jar that has collected the liquid overnight and puts it into yellow 20 litre plastic jars.

They balance two jars on either end of a stick to make it easier to carry. This arrives at the processing place by about 6:30 in the morning and is poured into flat trays which are place over a fire. 

They then start the process by lighting the fire below when this tray is full of this unfermented liquid.

There are two additives that we discovered. The first is ‘chuna’ – a type of limestone to arrest the fermentation of the sweet liquid into toddy and retaining its sweetness instead. The second discovery is after the boiling and the thickening take place, they add cane sugar to the semi liquid to increase its weight. So it is true that there is a type of adulteration that takes place.

Overall

So the end product is in three parts – liquid, semi solid and solid.

 

 

 

 

Entrepreneurship

There is a lesson beyond ‘gur’ making that we learnt.

1.     Mobility

       The Gur makers had a skill but they found that in the local village namely Bankura there were not enough palm trees. They found this available in Patamda.

2.     Flexibility and skill to be accepted in a new environment

        The skill of this village entrepreneur was to form a team and move in. Realising they had to be accepted by the local tribals, we assume they worked out a win-win situation since there was no conflict and the locals were happy that this natural resource was being economically used. .

3.     Awareness

        Manufacturing of Gur on a busy highway and just a sign ensured a level of interest and probably purchase. However the manufacturers actually took their stock to the wholesale market of Sakchi, Jamshedpur, to ensure that there is a turnover of working capital.

4.     We also discovered that the old belief that ‘nolen gur’is available only in the colder months of December and January is not true. So this started pre Durga Puja.

 Action

1. We should form a team and send representatives to watch the making of jaggery from the beginning to ensure that sugar is not added and with the assurance that we will pay a higher price.

2. Having a representative will assure a lot of close friends that we are getting the pure product and also helping and encouraging a local entrepreneur who, after this season, goes on to some other idea.

 

Pricing

Rs. 120 / kg

Please take a container for the solid product and a wide-mouthed bottle / jar for the liquid.

I had an empty bottle and was lucky to get 2 litres of the date palm juice.

Gali Guleiyan

A review of this 23017 psychological thriller

An off mainstream presentation that needs patience and deep understanding

Manoj Bajpayee as the main character is portrayed as a voyeur (Khuddoos) who set up a large network of CCTV and monitored them from a ramshackle room.

The director keeps us guessing as to his motives.

He just survives on minimum food, and occasionally alcohol.

He has a very loyal friend Ganeshi (Ranvir Shorey) who is always around to pull him out of trouble.

The director imperceptibly starts on the story of a young teenager’s relationship with another classmate who he tutors in maths. His mother is typical of some girls who have lived a comfortable, sheltered life almost like an angel protected by five brothers, in a large airy bungalow and open space, and then to be thrown into a ‘Galli’, and a ramshackle house with an absentee husband who has a mistress.

The intelligent Idu (Idris) portrayed by Om Singh hated food and adored his mother (Shahana Goswami) and was protective of her. She made him change his mind from running away.

One major murder changed his perspective and leads him on a unique psychological path.

Liyakat is a butcher (Neeraj Kabi), who wants his son ‘Idu’ to be like him and tries, wit brute force, to crush his any rebellion, and his spirit.

Saying anything more will be unfair to the director and the superb actors.

Is this a story of a father and son relationship ? Or, as with many men, an Oedipus complex, or an intense need to love and protect his mother ?

You'll be forgiven if you find a bit of yourself on this movie, as a mother, son or father.

A bit of advice...  patiently absorb the first part and you will be immensely rewarded in the last twenty minutes.

This experience will stay in your mind for a long, long time.

A Blast from the Past …

The Zachariah family was leaving town after having spent a lifetime in Jamshedpur. Their 3 sons Errol, Ian and Sam had finished school and already gone to college.

The couple, Moss and Ruby Zachariah, decided to pack up and leave Jamshedpur. However, the family piano, a German built Blüthner, was too heavy to take with them and had to be left behind.

So in 1964 the family gifted this sonorous, acoustic cottage piano to the up and coming Little Flower School in Telco.

This stately, warm sounding piano served to train many students who will testify about its outstanding duty to them.

Almost 60 years later the Symphony School of Music, Jamshedpur, received an urgent message from the principal of Little Flower School that they needed a piano tuner for two instruments. They called a piano tuner who tuned one and then was sent up to have a look at the other lying on the first floor. He was distressed since it needed a lot of material and would be very expensive to restore.

IN DESPERATION the Principal called up the Symphony School. The agreed to take it away and get it restored at the Boulevard Hotel.

The Story Continues

The children of the Zachariah family, now settled in the UK, got nostalgic about their home city. Sam, now a retired surgeon in London, decided to visit Jamshedpur and stay at the Boulevard Hotel.

Heritage

He, along with his elder brother Ian, hosted a dinner at the ‘Penthouse’ in the Boulevard Hotel. One of the guests had a son who is a student at the Symphony School and he offered to play ‘Fϋr Elise’. While he was playing, Ian approached the piano, recognised the sound, and was stunned. "This is the piano my mother gifted to Little Flower School. I am reconnected to my family heirloom, after 60 years !" He almost wept to see this long lost heirloom.

He said that he recognised the melodious sound which reminded him of happy days when his parents and friends like Joaquim Dias thumped away on it while all gathered to sing "beautiful, beautiful brown eyes".

The Boulevard Hotel is proud to add one more legacy piece belonging to this outstanding family to our heritage property.