Jackfruit!

 When the jackfruit makes an appearance, it is always in grand style and in huge groups! We have a very tall tree on the farm and the jackfruit always appears in clumps -  it is a wonder how even in that  seemingly crowded space they manage to grow so large!  And then sometimes there is a loner- one solitary fruit hanging majestically away from the rest on a dangerously slender branch.

I had my eye on that one and watched it grow to a humongous size.  This year I planned to get back to some of my much loved Sun-drying activities!  There is immense pleasure in letting the sun take charge of the processing and apart from the early morning rush to get the things out on the terrace to get the maximum sunlight, the rest of the day is relatively freed up for all the other work.   

I reminded my farm hand almost everyday to check whether it was ready for harvest.  An over-ripe jackfruit turns to a black mush in the heat of the sun.  An under ripe one becomes hard and quite inedible.  So it has to be just right.  How are you going to get it down? Should I call some one?  Will you do it when the coconut tree climber is here?

All my questions were answered with a vigorous head nod.  (I still have not been able to decode the direction and frequency of the head nod. ) 

I almost  gave up, well not quite.  Can you loop a rope around it and lower it down? I think that sounded quite ridiculous to my own ears. 

Finally a few days later, the jackfruit made its appearance on the front porch followed by the announcement “Halsinhannu!”  that is Jackfruit in Kannada.

It had burst open a bit, but for its size and weight of amost 20 kgs, the damage was minimal.

Out came the steel plates.  

The Steel tables are double wiped and placed on the terrace.

  And the jackfruit is sliced open.

  Plate after plate is laden with the deseeded portions and placed on the steel tables in the brilliant sunshine.

The next few days there is a steady harvest…and a continuous cycle of activity  fresh-need to be deseeded-and arranged, semi-dried-need-to-be-turned-over and the fully-dried-need-to-be-stored-away!

Then there is the vacuum packing process- the only way to store this delicacy without chemical preservatives – no the airtight bottles do not prevent moisture and mold from getting in and  and  I learnt this the hard way. 

So that is how summer months turn out to be the busiest!   And I haven’t even begun on the bananas which are waiting to be harvested!

 

 

 

 

Some unusual sightings….

 O.N.E.

A grating cracking sound just beyond the parked car.  It was too loud for me to go back to sleep.  The dogs were strangely quiet – well they were sleeping too.  I tried to ignore it but the sound was too close for comfort.  This, I have got to see. I took my torch switched on the lights in the hall and porch  and stepped out calling out to the dogs.  They followed me out.  I shone the torch in the narrow area between the parked car and the neighbour’s wall but there was nothing. The dogs did not seem keen on stepping out further, Come-ON! I goaded them and stepped out towards the wall.  As I shone the torch over the wall, I spotted it – A Porcupine with its bristles all at attention, busy crunching away at a fallen coconut.  It was least bothered with the light falling on it  - guess it knows its power -Armed and Dangerous – Stay away it seemed to say.  The dogs had trotted back into the house. I have seen porcupine quills in the farm and the forest many times, but this was the first time I spotted a Porcupine! 

A collection of Porcupine quills found in the forest beyond the farm

I could not possibly click a pic, so this is from the internet)

 

T.W.O.

When the snakes glide over the wall separating our yard from the forest , they barely make a sound, at most if they displace a leaf and you hear it, then you might look up from your work and spot it.  But today the sound was louder - a rustling of the leaves seemingly made by  a much larger clumsier animal.  I looked up from my laptop and spotted it - …..a monitor lizard!!! I left my desk and stepped towards the door.  As I gazed at it from the doorstep, it sensed my glance and froze. The long neck turned and two eyes looked unblinkingly at me,  And the next instant it climbed over the wall at an astonishing speed and disappeared!

  

Pic from the internet

 

T.H.R.E.E.

The cacophony of sounds from the tall mango tree in front of the house was a little different from what  the normal  langurs make. If it was a fight between 2 male langurs then it was definitely taking a vicious turn.  There are often noisy fights amongst the langurs- probably males trying to show their dominance  with loud furious barking sounds, the whooshing sounds as they chase one another amongst the branches and the high pitched chattering/squealing sounds that the  rest of the females and young ones make as they probably cheer them on! Today the sounds were interspersed with some other sound, but I could barely identify it - what with the added cacophony of the 3 dogs barking full throttle!

 

I peered up at the tree, but could not see anything except the foliage moving violently.  I asked my  househelps who were cleaning some spices on the porch whether they could see anything unusual.  My farm hand too was trying to see from a distance.  And then suddenly I spotted it – a huge bushy tail unlike the rope like tail of the langur.  The others spotted it too –  It was a Giant Indian Squirrel.  The langurs were agitated at the intruder, but it seemed to have gotten some distance between itself and the langurs -for they were no longer on the mango tree and the cacophony was tapering off.  The langurs leapt over the tree tops and disappeared into the forest. The Giant squirrel too leapt off in the opposite direction and disappeared into the farm.

Pic from the internet

Just a fleeting sighting.    But a tell-tale trail of destruction in the days that followed – holes bored into tender coconuts – piles of them around the base of every tree.   Well, nothing can be done,,,,  but I do wish I could catch sight of the elusive one again.