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Fruits we ate

   Well in one era, I knew two fruits ಮಾವಿನ ಹಣ್ಣು ಮತ್ತು ಗೇರು ಹಣ್ಣು . Our drawings consisted of only these fruits.
    You wonder what is this geru hannu. It is cashew fruit. The fruit below which the cashew nut will be attached. Yes, you can eat it. It will some what tangy in taste. We used to go to these trees and climb the cashew trees, pluck and eat the fruits and save the nuts. The trees will have low branches so that kids can climb. We would sit on it chatting. We would make the swing on these branches. And each kid would sit on a separate tree. The best part is the trees were not planted by anyone. They had grown in our land used for grass cultivation for cattle.
   And the nuts. The pros among us would stamp on the greenish cashew seed, so that the kernel would come out, wipe it with dress and eat it. But it is a really tricky job because the oil which comes out of the seed will burn the skin.
     The rest of us will bring the cashewnuts with the outer shell home. These will be stored for rainy days (along with jack fruit seeds) And in rainy season, these cashews would be burnt in wood stoves , then broken with a stone to take out the kernel. With all this, it used to taste delicious.
    Then there were shelle hannu. These are wild fruits, yellowish in color , quite small in size, almost as big as coffee seeds. The outer skin will be fleshy and tangy with seed inside.  The fruits used to appear in May June.
   The perennial fruits were called dasavala hannu. There will be too many of these plants in hills and only little kids would eat them.
   Then there was sakkarekanchi. This is orange family fruit, much larger in size. We had the plant. We kids would pluck the fruit, hide it and go and sit in a dark room and eat it stealthily.
The same room would be used to eat bananas from a bunch  was a reject from banana merchant (ಬಾಳೆಕಾಯಿ ಭಟ್ರು) , which was hidden to fruiten it.
    I also remember buying one apple when I had first come to Bangalore to study. Fifty rupees per kg. It is exorbitant price I felt and bought just one.
    Then there were honey from plants which we used to eat. From banana flowers, and some other flowers.
   Life was sweet back then

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