With the monsoon wind gaining strength and intensity and trees swaying in the stormy weather, ‘padekars’ have become the most wanted men in Goa. Tall coconut trees are a common sight in almost every bungalow across Goa. The rains have brought about a fear among people that one day, sooner or later; a coconut will fall and crash their car, bike, garden pots or their heads.
Frantic calls have been made to the phone numbers of local coconut pluckers but in vain. After some pressure at home and nagging voices, the men start making trips to the last known whereabouts of the evasive padekar or padeli or call them for their service.
One such call was made to 73 year old Cruz Dias who has been in this profession since he was 12 years old but laments that old age and accidents prohibit his mobility. He laments that his children have pursued better paying prospects in the merchant navy and the generation old tradition taught to him by his father has come to an end and with it, a way of life for them. His fellow Goan padekars are all touching 60 and are too old to climb trees while the younger generation barely know to climb trees, let alone the art of plucking.
Piedade Fernandes who is still active in the profession said they are used to a routine of plucking coconuts four times a year. Incisions are made on the trunks of the trees to keep records. They even have a system of checking for theft of coconuts by evaluating how many coconuts each branch should have yielded.
Today the size of houses has become smaller and additionally, cost of living has increased and it becomes difficult to sustain a living in the business. They however, still continue to visit houses and go to new houses only on recommendation from old clients.
The Prabhugaonkar brothers who are in their mid eighties pass on calls to Luis Mascarenhas who still climbs trees even though he is 67 years old. Mascarenhas earns about Rs 500-750 per assignment and this involves over 50 trees.
What makes their job so unique is the modus operandi and danger involved in climbing trees.
According to Victor Hugo Gomes’ Goa Chitra Museum website, a padekar climbs the tree by wrapping the khaddum around the trunk and placing his bare feet on it. “The khaddum would be raised and lodged in notches and cut into the trunk with a koito, giving the padekar a base to launch himself further up the trunk. While climbing, the koito was held by the akkadi/ankddo, secured tightly at the waist with a string made from the bark of the kombbio tree. Once at the top, the padekar grasps the fronds for support and cuts loose the ripe nuts from each side, called dhall and mhall. He also inspects the crown for insect damage so the necessary measures can be taken,” said Gomes, the founder of Goa Chitra on his website.
Incidentally, while there is an independent web portal called www.padekar.com that aims at providing a platform for customers to contact padekars, the Goa State Horticulture Corporation also has a scheme for coconut pluckers to arrest the gradual decline of coconut plantations in the state. According to official government records as per 2012, there were 25,730 hectares under coconut cultivation with a production of 129.28 million.
