Meet TN’s ‘toddy stars’: With social media push, this village protest festival sparks debate

Experience the Pana Kanavu Vizha festival in Narasinganur village, a celebration of palmyra trees and toddy legalization.

It is 8am and winding roads from Vikravandi toll gate in Villupuram district have led us to a clearing amidst paddy fields. After a three-hour ride from Chennai, we find ourselves at the panankaadu or the palm forest (on April 24) at Narasinganur village. We are here for the Pana Kanavu Vizha or the Palmyra Dream Festival. We are clearly at the right place: the area is teeming with cameras. There are more lenses than people at this point.

This is when we go seeking Karishma.

Harris Karishma, a young woman who has just finished her Class 12 exams, and is ready to study Botany in Villupuram, is the reason why many people have travelled all the way to the fourth edition of this festival.

Until now, the Pana Kanavu Vizha was limited to residents of Villupuram as local media had drummed up some noise about it in the past. But this year, more people know that while the festival celebrates the palmyra, Tamil Nadu’s State tree, they also know that it is a protest festival fighting for the legalisation of toddy, a by-product of the tree, in Tamil Nadu.

Karishma, in an Instagram reel that has now crossed over 19 lakh views, can be seen scaling the palm tree with an unmatched elan, and inviting people from across the world to participate in the festival held at a relatively obscure location. A tourist would not be here without purpose. Her reel on the Thirukovilur City Instagram page is a reckoner of how this day-long village festival has used social media to bring forth a conversation about a subject rarely spoken of among common folk. Suddenly, everyone has an opinion about the merits of drinking toddy.

“I would often accompany my father to the palm grove and watch him climb. I told him that I wanted to try my hand at it and ended up climbing it with relative ease. I had just watched and learnt,” she says.

Karishma is a celebrity here. Dressed in a tracksuit for her silambam performance, she is out on the field giving interviews about the need for legalisation of an occupation practised in her community for years now. She speaks at a selfie station amidst two palms and a clay pot (where toddy is usually stored), that the festival organisers have prepared. “Even little children are given kallu (toddy) in our village,” she says.