Friday, September 28, 2012

Saga of the Pink Guava..


A typical sight when you travel out of the Maharashtra cities. Rural folk, old ladies in nine yard sarees, a young girl on a school break, or even a young fellow sitting on his haunches , sometimes on the roadside, sometimes in temple bylanes; selling fresh guavas, fresh off the trees.

Cut,smeared with masala, they make an amazing addition to snacks eaten on trips.  One such trip, undertaken by a group called Bisons Ride Hard, on motorcycles, doing a pilgrimage of all the various Ganesh Temples in Maharashtra, to celebrate the ongoing Ganpati festival.

Sometimes, Ganpati Bappa smiles, sometimes even the guava smiles, and sometimes even folks, a thousand miles away,  smile....


Enterprising
young ladies.

Born and brought up
in the plains of the Deccan,
hanging around on trees
by riversides,
they always wondered
about the
roaring two wheelers
with chaps in uniform
going by with a flag,
depicting a wilder version
of buffaloes
they saw around the farms.

Coming of age
meant
they hung out
in lovely baskets
by the roadside,
and in temple courtyards,
sometimes
with Banana Bhais,
and sometimes
even
with Granny Sitaphal
keeping a beady eye on them.

Then one day,
he roared by,
astride a Royal steed,

a bit invisible in his helmet,
reversed,
and came to a stop.

Looked at them all,
asked his
pillion riding friend,
and decided
on one.

The old lady
near the basket,
smiled,
held her up,
and said ,
"Saheb, bagha !
Tumchi nivad achook ahe ..."***
and the lady guava smiled,
blushed pink
and
was captured on film....


Far away,
in a nippy morning in Delhi,
another lady ,
nodded to herself in great satisfaction..... 


*** Marathi for "Sir, your choice is perfect !"


8 comments:

  1. First of all let me start with an apology! Been so crazy, that I have not even had the courtesy to comment on the beautiful proses you keep posting taking inspiration from our club and pictures.

    We thank you once again, and I am seriously considering creating a section for your proses on our website. We will discuss when we meet.

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    Replies
    1. Vineet , pl no apologies. You guys put up such interesting photos, that poems happen. Like I said, the bhel, the chillies and the monkey were a close second...

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  2. Reminds me of the time I shifted to Mumbai and for the first time in my life had to pay money to enjoy guavas.How I missed my fruit garden back home?!
    Pink ones are still rare in this part of town :(

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    Replies
    1. Sharmila, Pune has wonderful guavas in season, both pink and white. I dont think you get those in Mumbai....

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  3. Lovely post- and Guavas always smile with such a lovely pink smile -
    I am living far away abt>> 900 kms and yet smell the fragrance of Guavas -
    Rgds
    TR

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    Replies
    1. Trikannadji, Thank you, and i so agree about the guavas ! Welcome to this blog !

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  4. Replies
    1. Priti Kapoor, Thank you and welcome to my blog ! I can see how much fun you guys have on these trips. I know a few of the members and am always delighted to see the photos of your various trips .

      I just checked out your blog, and the art is so amazing, all can say is WOW!

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