Thursday, April 26, 2018

Badam





Do you remember this ?? 

Walking on the streets of Domlur, I found these scattered on the road. Most were damagad from the fall but thankfully, a couple of fully ripened ones had fallen into a pile of sand nearby. 
These Badam fruits brought back memories of a carefree childhood. Growing up in Vadodara, Gujarat, the very first home I remember living in were a set of 4 apartments in an exposed brick building, known in the neighbourhood as ‘Red Flats or Lal Bunglow’. Across the street from my home were our friendly Neighbours- the Patel’s. The Patel Home had a compound, and in corner was a very large badam tree. 
My very first neighbourhood girl friend was a girl my age - Patel uncle’s youngest daughter ( there were 5 daughters in that Home). Playing on the road or inside the Patel compound was something I did often. I must have been 5 or 6 then, or younger still. It was a simpler time , and parents did not supervise play and there were no ‘play dates’. You just ran across the street (or trooped into a neighbours’s home) and started to play. 

So much of our play involved pickup up the fallen fruit and eating it. Yes it would be slightly damaged, but who cared!! We rarely washed it before eating either. 

I washed and ate 2 intact ones today. I haven’t tasted one in atleast 3 decades. I have never seen it sold anywhere and have never seen anybody else eat it either. But I still love it. Bright red on the inside - so red, it stains your tongue. It’s taste a mix of sweet, sour and a tad bitter. 
The joy didn’t end when you finished eating the pulp. You took a large stone and cracked the seed open. Messy business that - as the fibrous red covering of the seed would splatter red stain on your dress - a stain that wouldn’t wash away easy and Amma would give me a sound firing. But the scolding was always worth it , as inside the cracked seed was badam - almond. 
Wonder how many of you have eaten this fruit too ? 

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