“Open the bottle carefully, as the fizzy toddy may spill out,” warned salesman Biju Jose as he handed over a bottle of freshly tapped drink to a customer. Jose then collected the cash and dropped it into an open wooden cash chest.
“Toddy ₹80 a bottle,” read a hand-written poster at the entrance of the shop on the Kaloor-Kathrikadavu road stretch. Though the price was hiked by ₹10 a bottle, there was not even a whimper of protest from tipplers.
Unusual scenes unfolded at the shop on Wednesday as the business resumed at the outlet, nearly one-and- a-half months after the COVID-19 lockdown.
The usual cacophony of noises of the toddy parlour was missing. There were no clinging of glasses and loud calls of tipplers for a quick refill. Instead, several glum-faced customers silently queued outside the shop.
Social distancing
A salesman had earlier marked out the space for the customers to stand in queue using bleaching powder. A temporary washbasin and soap was kept outside the shop for the customers to use. A freshly opened bottle of hand sanitiser was kept ready on the desk.
The all-pervasive smell of fermented toddy filled the poorly-lit, smoky parlour as the salespersons, who wore face masks and surgical gloves, filtered the drink from two big blue barrels into an open container. The plastic chairs and table of the parlour were stalked up in a corner. The kitchen remained closed as consumption of food and toddy from inside the parlour was banned.
As Jose poured toddy into the plastic bottles brought by the customers, another worker was busy filling the beer bottles kept in a plastic crate to dispense it quickly.
Sold out
Binu, a daily wages earner, was the first customer. The Kottayam native reached the shop by 8 a.m. though the sale started at only at 9 a.m.
Two officials of the Excise Department stayed through out the business hours supervising the resumption of the sales.
Nearly half of the 90 litres of toddy brought in was sold out in 30 minutes as the queue gradually grew outside the shop. Each customer was allowed a maximum of 1.5 litres though many asked for more. In one hour, the toddy was sold out and the shop shut, leaving out a few unlucky customers in deep despair.
According to agency reports, there are close to 3,590 toddy shops in the State. In Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kannur, shops did not open as there was no liquor to be served. Those shops which opened had to close them down soon after their stock was sold in a flash.
