We were sitting around at a loose end and my brother in law had a brilliant idea-"Come on guys, let's go to the toddy shop!" 
It's not quite like popping down the pub. There's a disreputability and dissolution associated that's still not shaken off despite my brother in law's protestations. "Oh, no, it's not like that anymore! People go there nowadays with their families!" He's ten years older than me, retired from a career in international banking, but he still avoided answering my father who asked where we were going. "Just heading out!"
Toddy (kallu) is a beer from the sap of the coconut palm. A cut made at the growing tip of the palm drips sap into a pot overnight. At dawn a man shimmies up the palm and collects the toddy. At this point it is sweet, effervescent and already 1-2% alcohol. Perfect for providing the leavening for appam, the rice flour pancakes that go with istew for breakfast.
This picture of appam borrowed from later events.
By the afternoon it's about 4%, by the evening maybe 6-7%. By the next day it's 10%, and apparently no higher as it is illegal to sell at a higher strength! We had the 1 day brew which was sweet and somewhat yeasty, and the 2 day brew, which was noticeably stronger with a more pungent taste, like an very strongly flavoured craft beer. Or like licking an unvarnished wooden table. 
Toddy shops have a reputation for cheap but authentic Malayali food. The expectation is also that the food will be hot, to cut through the booze. Drinkers who were traditionally poorly paid manual workers would come off shift, have a drink then six, spend most of their daily wages and go home to be obnoxious at home. Hence the bad reputation.
The picture above shows tapioca, absolutely traditional, with
chicken pepper fry and
duck mappas, a milder curry. No cutlery, but we had access to a tap to wash our hands. 
We got through four 600ml bottles between four of us, working up a pleasant but definite beer buzz. Then home like schoolkids who'd just smoked a toke.
