The Tamarind – a temptation!

In my School there stands a huge tamarind tree, just at the entrance. I remember seeing it since I joined School as a tiny tot. It’s probably a century old. Often I still stand under its branches and look up at the beautiful feathery dark green leaves. I can’t help but wonder how many generations this tree has seen pass in and out of the gates. It stands there stoically, like a sentinel spreading out its branches providing welcome shade to the gate keeper and numerous students who wait for their parents in the hot season. Its thick foliage is often a home to bees, sparrows, bulbuls, and many other birds. The squirrels find comfortable rooms in its trunk, at convenient spots.

As a student, I remember girls stooping to pick up the delicious fruit that would fall from the tree. Some naughty ones would look around furtively before tossing a few stones at the tangy fruit on lower branches. Whether raw or ripe the tamarind makes for a yummy experience. Add a little salt and red chilli powder and you have a winner. This reminds me there was this vendor with his cart outside the School gates. He sold the most mouth-watering plums, guavas, dhansaras, jungle jalebi, and of course tamarind (both green and brown). His wares were in much demand throughout the year. The girls would gather around calling out their choices and he would deftly pack the desired item and add that magical masala (black salt and chilli powder) before exchanging it for money. But my parents never encouraged my sister and me to make purchases as such. Guavas, plums and dhansaras would find their way home from the market in my father’s shopping bag almost every Sunday. But we weren’t allowed the delight of tasting tamarind, because of its sourness. My grandmother would narrate stories of sore throats, tonsils, and horrible coughs.

If that makes you think that my sister and me, we were deterred from our intent to have some of the ‘forbidden fruit’, you’re absolutely... wrong! I remember the day so vividly, after lunch, my sister and me, we waited for our grandmother and parents to retire for their siesta. Then... we raided the storeroom for tamarind. Mummy would keep it on a high shelf, we knew the place. So, we got a stool and I climbed up to get the jar down. Carefully and noiselessly we took some of that delicious pulpy brown fruit, placed the jar back and hurried to the kitchen for some salt and red chilli powder. Ahh... the first bite was delightful! The salt and chilli tempered the sourness and gave it a wonderful flavour. Our daily expeditions carried on for a few days and then quite unexpectedly one afternoon, we couldn’t find the jar. How disappointed we were! We hunted high and low but we just couldn’t find it! Much later we realized that perhaps our mother had got a wind of our crooked ways and decided to deal with our sneakiness with some of her own. My dear friends, have you heard perseverance wins? Soon we found the elusive jar and had our share of that tempting tamarind again only to lose it a few days later. This went on for some time till we lost interest for the simple reason that our mother would hide the jar in the most unthinkable places. It was so irritating! Not to mention the quantity was decreasing in the jar and mummy wasn’t interested in refilling it, God knows why!

Anyway, enough of my childhood’s great ‘tamarind escapades’. Recently, for no particular reason I was just browsing the internet and came across a few interesting legends. One says that in South India, the tree is associated with spirits and therefore, is grown within the temple premises devoted to the Devi, who wages battle with these spirits at night and vanquishes them. Another legend takes us to North India, to Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh where ‘Imli-tala’, a sacred tamarind tree still flourishes. This tree is believed to be the witness of Lord Krishna’s existence on earth. It is said that the tree was cursed by an enraged Radha. One day when she was hurrying to meet Krishna, she stepped on the thick shell of a ripe tamarind fruit and hurt her foot. Her foot started bleeding and she was late to meet her loved one. She therefore, cursed the tree that its fruit will never ripen. As a result of which, even today the fruits of this tree fall down before they are completely ripe. Vaishnav Saints – Nammalvar and Chaitanya are said to have meditated in the shade of the tamarind tree.

Still another legend associates the tamarind tree with Lord Rama and his brother Lakshmana. It seems that the leaves of this tree were originally broad and large. When in exile, Sita and the two brothers would often rest in the cool shade of the tree. It would protect them from rain, sun, heat and cold. One day Rama realised that being in exile meant facing difficulties and leading a life of inconvenience. The tree on the other hand was actually providing them the comforts of a palace. So, he ordered Lakshmana to shoot his arrows and split the large leaves. Lakshmana immediately obeyed his brother’s command and since then the tamarind tree has tiny leaves.

Those who are foodies, will know the true worth of the tamarind fruit. Who can resist the temptation of dahi papdis, chaat, and dahi bhallas drizzled lavishly with the mouth-watering ‘imlie chutney’? And, I’m sure no one can forget the delicious ‘khatta-metha’ water used for the pani-puri. Can you imagine the yummy sambhar without the essential dash of tamarind water? Apart from being just a delight to the taste buds, the tamarind has its health benefits too. Every part of this tree is recognised for its medicinal properties – the ripe fruit, leaves, roots and seeds as well. The fruit is said to be an antidote for fever and can be used as a mild laxative. Traditionally, the seeds have been used for the treatment of diabetes and intestinal problems.

Now, before I say goodbye, I would like to share another interesting nugget of information. Do you know that although the tamarind tree grows abundantly in India it originally belongs to the African continent? Surprised? So was I in the course of my browsing and reading. That’s why we need to keep reading; we constantly learn something new each time. What do you say?

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