The sun is still down the horizon, the sky a palette of blue, grey and pale yellow. Everything is barely visible, as the fog embraced the village like a huge fluff of cloud. The air is chilly, so much that it feels like a thousand needles piercing through layers of warm clothes; the ground cold and damp from the dewdrops of dawn. One would not want to rise so early in the morning and go through this frigid torture.

However, amidst the fog and the chill, Hanep Gachi walks with tireless excitement in his eyes; clay pots, necessary equipment and determination on his shoulders. He strides with big stomps, not feeling the best of spirit for the chill prickling on his skin. He only feels better as soon as he climbs up a date tree with proper precautions and notices the Bhar (clay pot) full of date palm juice. A smile shines on his chapped lips looking at the outcome of his hard work. He sets the pot full of delicious liquid down on the grass and climbs up again, ready to go through the same process he's been working on for months.

Hanep Gachi has run a family business of jaggery for years now. He waits all year for October to arrive, his call to prepare date trees for sap collection. The farmer from Choyghoria village of Chuadanga cuts the tree on the bottom of the leaves and creates a channel for the sap to flow smoothly. He uses a tight rope to tie the 'Bhar' — or the clay pot — around the tree and climbs down to move on with the next process. He has been repeating this painfully exciting routine of harvesting date palm juice to make jaggery in large amounts and sell it for living expenses all winter.

By the time the sun has shone in all its glory, Hanep returns home to his wife Anura Begum waiting for him to return with date palm juice and a bright smile. She sets up a stove using bricks and dry wood and props a huge square pan — or what they call a 'Jala' locally — specifically used for jaggery production. Hanep and his kids gather all the previously and recently collected date sap and gradually pour it in the sizzling hot pan. The smell wafting from the pan does not only please Anura and her family but the neighbours as well, drawing them to their backyard to spectate the amazing liquid caramelise into something sweet and beautiful. Kids surround the stove with big curious eyes and women chit chat with Anura as she stirs the sap occasionally.

Soon, the liquid turns into a deliciously brown liquid, the mouth-watering smell a sign that the jaggery is ready. Anura and Hanep, with the help of their children, set the huge loaded pan down and let it cool down as they prepare the clay pots of different sizes to store it. After the containers have been filled with the delicious brown beauty, the jaggery left in the pan is distributed among the kids who were watching the process patiently. The little ones enjoying the tasty liquid is something truly delightful to witness.

After the pan has been licked clean by the children, Anura and her daughter begin washing the pan and Hanep loads the container on his bicycle and drives off to Sarajganj bazaar. The jaggery market is three hundred years old and is famous for its authentic jaggery. Not just Hanep, retailers and farmers from all over the district and the country meet at this location for trading jaggery during winter. The market is set up two days a week and sellers and buyers all gather side by side with clay containers loaded with different types of jaggery. The jaggery sold is used for making Pithas (rice cakes).

The smell whirling off the houses making pithas isn't just the jaggery, it also contains the smile of Hanep Gachi, Anura Begum and many other jaggery producers. This years-old process brings happiness to many lives, be it a farmer who's following his family tradition or kids who spectate the process or people in the busy bustling city enjoying rice cakes made out of finely milled rice flour and jaggery. The 'Khejur Gur' still stands tall with all its glory in people's hearts, Bangladesh's heritage for people like Hanep Gachi and many other jaggery producers who have been trading this for decades now.