Getting familiar with naturally growing fruits!
Desh Bir
Once having joined the mainstream of formal learning in the school system at the age of four, now it was also time for me to explore the world around. Kangoo, the village where we lived, (now in Hamirpur district of Himachal Pradesh, but then in erstwhile Kangra district of Punjab) was named after a wild fruit Kangu (Flacourtia Sapida) found in abundance in the area and eaten with much fondness.
It is a small berry, yellow when ripe, found in clusters on a spiny low height tree with tender branches. Such trees occurred in plenty in the vicinity of the school and in summer, the mid-day recess at school would often be spent in bending the boughs with some hook-headed stick and relishing the wild luxury that liberally tickled our easily gratified palates .
Since the town-village, Kangoo, was perched on the fringe of a big pine forest whose first stretch of towering pines was only a stone’s throw away, we would usually saunter into the nearest groves. Skidding on the dry pine needles afforded to us a lot of fun. Besides, there was the possibility of harvesting a sumptuous feast of Garnu (Carissa spinarum) berries from these ubiquitous hedges in the undergrowth. These are tiny, purple berries resembling the Indian barberry in size and shape. Thorns would often dissuade us, but the lure increased with each new branch seen temptingly laden with the purple prize.
The month of May would come with a rare wealth of one more purple delicacy in the form of self-growing figs in non-forest area. There were no poly bags then. Cloth bags would get stained. Therefore, paper bags were used to collect and bring home some of the fruit after having spot-satiated the immediate appetite for the fruit. There was no fixed hour for indulging in this wild, child- luxury. It could be early morning, noon or evening. The neighbourhood trees, nearly half a dozen, were often exploited to maximum daily potential by repeated visits as we knew the summer heat would hasten their ripening by the hour.
Come June !…And we could now treat ourselves to another purple, honey-like delicacy hanging in tassels on mulberry trees found in abundance in the school backyard. In the beginning of July came another natural bounty in the form of Jamun berries. Incidentally, this gift of nature was purple, too and would most often leave our lips and tongues stained in the same tint. Only, we had to feel satisfied with whatever whole , uninjured berries could be gathered from the ground under the trees because climbing a jamun tree was risky as the branches easily crack and could lead to a dangerous fall.
Winters came with their own fruit wealth of the countryside for kids like us. There were tiny, wild, yellow strawberries on swaying branches with crooked thorns. In the local dialect, we called them Aakhe. Today the children don’t cast even a cursory glance at such stuff, but for us they were a fortunate catch whenever spotted anywhere.
Another prized item in winter was Jujube, a variety of Ber, growing on sprawling low-height thorny bushes in the neighborhood of the school. No child could resist them in spite of repeated warnings from parents because this fruit often caused persistent cough that lasted for weeks. No child of today falls for such stuff. They would dismiss them as things fit for wild life. What a colossal opportunity they miss, perhaps they would never ever know!
(The author is a Retired Principal Govt. College, Hoshiarpur (Punjab)
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