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he was very fond of cucumbers. She would select the best as the vegetable boatman came up from the riverfront to deliver the morning supply of veggies that would be cooked during the day. She had a knack of picking fresh and tasty cucumbers and none selected by her would ever taste bitter, as some usually did. Two varieties of cucumbers were generally available with the boatman and these would either be with the smooth skin or with ridged skin. The former was categorized as the farm variety and the later as the garden variety. She would prefer the garden variety for its taste and flavor. The very first thing was to remove bitterness, if any, by cutting out slices at both ends and then rubbing with the main cucumber after knifing slashes across on the slices. This rubbing caused froth to appear on the slices that was bitter and cut out along with the next slice leaving the rest free of bitterness. Then after washing and peeling the cucumbers she would cut longitudinal slices that were shaped like long wedges. She would carefully lay these on a plate and sprinkle these with salt and finely ground red chilly powder. Then with a satisfied look on her face she would eat these with a lot of relish. And she would not throw out the peeled slices either and these were rubbed on the face or placed on eyelids for that cold feel. My mother would never compromise on cucumbers. On the contrary my father called these as cow cumbers saying that it was fit only for the consumption of cows, hence the name. And in fact many such crops were grown on the farms for feeding the cows as it was supposed to increase their yield of milk. He would even admonish us kids for eating the fruit saying it caused the formation of gas and unhealthy growth of bacteria in the stomach. Although we had a kitchen garden at the back of our house, the growing of cucumbers was forbidden, well almost until I found a way out to please my mother with whom I had a special bonding. When I turned about 14, I was allowed to work unhindered in the kitchen garden for growing vegetables that I had seen my father do for years on end. He was meticulous in his planning and had a timetable to grow various kinds of veggies during summer. A careful tending and watering process had to be ensured for a good crop. There was a deep well in the garden that provided water for the plants using a “ţoľe”. This was a device with a long wooden pole pivoted in the middle to another pole firmly embedded in the ground nearby and a rope with an attached bucket tied at one end to the free pole and a counterbalancing weight placed on the other. The fulcrum was devised in such a manner that the rope when pulled down at the bucket end would drop straight into the well and after waddling the bucket inside the well and filling it with water it was allowed to get pulled up with the counterweight on the other side making the pole rise from the well pit. All that was required now was to let the water drain out from the bucket into a specially prepared channel that would carry the water to the desired location in the garden. A deft handling indeed, but the effort was worth its design to provide a strong-arm muscle to the worker. And, by god, we boys needed that to defend ourselves from the rowdy boys of the neighborhood. It wasn’t easy to be a Rainawarian. Not that the other boys did not have access to a similar device as almost all households had a kitchen garden and where there was no well, water used to be sourced from the canal running adjacent to their house and there were several such branches across Rainawari that emanated from the Dal Lake. Cucumbers originated in India 3000 years ago and a large genetic variety is observed in different parts of the country. It grows on creeping vines that bear cylindrical edible fruit. The size varies from place to place and variety-to-variety, but usual ones are 8 to 10 inches long with a circumference of about 3 inches. It was later introduced to other parts of the world from the 9th century in France to the 14th century in England and 16th century in North America. It is said that when Alexander reached the borders of India in 326 BC to pick up treasures in this land of gold and honey and spices, he observed his Indian soldiers eating cucumbers and was repulsed with the sight of a raw vegetable being eaten in this fashion. And when the same was served to him in his salad he was so delighted that he asked to be served this delicacy every time with his dinner. In India cumbers are generally eaten raw along with its skin or as a salad, peeled, cut into slices, sprayed with limejuice and salt and served on a plate. It is also grated, mixed with curds with a little salt and finely cut green chillies and is called “râita”. It is only in Europe or the US that cucumbers are pickled for flavor and longer shelf life. Although Kashmir has a seasonal production of the fruit, it is available throughout the year in the rest of the country. Now coming back to the strategy to grow this vegetable in my own garden and avoiding any reaction from father, I devised a plan to grow it in such a manner that it remained unnoticed by a casual observer. And my father had now become a casual observer in the sense that the function of running the kitchen garden was passed on to the youngsters in the family. The strategy was simple and it worked well and to cap it all, my mother was delighted to have the cucumbers from her own garden and it tasted so very good to her. There is a sister crop called the bottle gourd that grows in almost a similar fashion and it has vines that cover the fruit just like cucumbers. All that I had to do was to grow the crop alongside the bottle gourd and intermingle the vines to hide the cucumbers as they grew. Nonetheless the leaves of the plant form a canopy that easily hides the fruit. There was, however, a precaution that had to be taken and it was that the growing cucumbers are not allowed to rest on bare earth underneath as it turns the cucumbers bitter in taste. To achieve this we had to tie the growing fruit with its vine in such a manner that it remained above ground at all times. There are a variety of bees and bumblebees that help pollinate the fruit. And back then we never used any chemical fertilizers in the garden. But my father being my father was always a step ahead of me in his intelligence and observation and he already sensed something was cooking up in the garden. It was my mother who told me about his knowing my strategy, but he said nothing to me in person. He let me keep my secret and probably changed his stance when he learnt about it. We never discussed the affair of cucumbers any time thereafter. It was no mean feat to outwit my father. For that matter I also remember his amusement at our ingenuity when he found out that we kids used to make “sharab” by cutting the tip off the green chilies that grew in our garden, insert some salt and then add water to make that spicy concoction. Remembering these instances is a nostalgic feeling that takes you over back in time as a perfect homage to the great souls that made us grow up alongside and shape up our lives. |
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Shri BL Dhar was born and brought up at Srinagar. After completing his Master’s Degree in Mathematics he ventured out of the state and found a job in the Civil Aviation Department joining as a Gazetted Officer. His area of activity was at Delhi and Mumbai International airports. He was selected to undergo training at the school of aviation; Luxembourg under the UNDP program and later posted at the Corporate Headquarters in New Delhi. He had in the meantime joined the newly formed PSU, Airports Authority of India, from where he retired as a General Manager in 2000. He has written innumerable articles about aviation that was published in the house magazine. He is now settled in Delhi and keeps his interest alive in writing.. |
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