Three months before Pongal every year, 70-year-old Muthamma and her husband Velsamy Naidu trudge towards Karuveppilai village, from Andipatti, near Madurai. They are dutifully accompanied by the family of their youngest son, daughter-inlaw and grandchildren. The family travels to villages in and around Madurai to eke out a living by making jaggery from sugarcane.
This has been an annual ritual for them for the past few years.
As they make their way through the green fields, they are greeted by many others like them, who are hired by sugarcane farmers, to harvest, crush and finally turn their crop into slabs of gold (jaggery). Some of them go armed with the crushers to extract juice from cane, as well as a huge 10-foot-wide pan, long wooden ladles and trays. Finally, they set-up camp in a picturesque spot amidst the fields.
Originally written for DTNext, read more at https://www.dtnext.in/News/Citizen/2017/01/13114445/1025384/Stirring-tale-of-jaggery.vpf