Tender Coconuts

I have been drinking a lot of tender coconut recently. Since I am recuperating and rebuilding my lost strength. I love it. I have always loved it. At home, growing up, I would sometimes climb up on to our roof. As far as the eye could see I would see coconut trees swaying in the breeze. We had two mammoth ones in our home, I just LOVED those two guys. We bought them when I was maybe five. They were my height when we planted them. My mum would tell me, look, depending on how you eat, you can grow at the same pace as the trees. Well, clearly, my being a poor eater had less to do with it than other factors, but I always felt a bit guilty looking at them in later years, so very tall and majestic. And me so short.

In those days, when we travelled from Mysore to Bangalore, a journey of about three hours, usually by bus, we stopped mid-way for a break. Rarely used the rest-room though I would desperately want to. But the adult accompanying us would invariably offer us a tender coconut to drink. It used to cost five rupees, I can never forget that. I would be sorely tempted since I love the taste, and in normal course of life we rarely drank the thing (despite the tree at home). But then, how about managing the rest-room requirement? No, thank you I would say. If it was my mum, she would offer to drink half of it (since she would have the same issues and we did not need to say it to each other, since saying it makes it all feel all the more imperative). That would be nice. Those are things I love and appreciate about her. Dad never figured out such things. And other adults obviously could not.

Now the thing costs fifteen rupees. Tastes just as good. I get two at a time in the market across the street. I don't bother anymore with the coconut that you can get on the inside if you split it. I used to love those too. Now I am not convinced its a great idea to eat the coconut, not so healthy perhaps (one never knows. someone will tell you its the best ever. others will insist it has every bad aspect of cholesterol you can imagine. best to avoid, surely something that tastes that good ought to be bad for health). At any rate that is too much hassle since I cannot split the thing here at home, need a nice fat machete or something, and not to mention a place where you can sit down and mess around with a machete and coconut. So thats out. But the drink is just awesome. Sweet and refreshing like nothing else.

I had heard a while ago (of course I don't bother to google such things for you and give you good links, the rule on this blog is that you take my word for it, or not, does not matter, I am just musing and rambling at any rate) that they made a bottled drink out of it. Surely they have some form of natural ice-cream that says the words 'tender coconut' (as opposed to coconut). I will happily avoid such things. They are not for me. I don't ice-cream. I mean almost never. I just don't like it. And I am bound to hate the bottled coconut-drink (not coconut water, thats fine, I have used it occasionally in making Thai Red Curry and quietly drunk some of it, comes in a can, that white stuff is okay no objections to it).

I am glad I don't need to worry about such things anyway. I take my cloth bag, walk across, pay the guy thirty bucks and waltz home to drink to my strength. Meanwhile the husband has gone off to the ritual basketball game. Mum is out walking. And here I am seriously wondering when I can get some exercise. And dreamily thinking of coconuts and hoping all the coconut water and kanji is going to get me there soon enough. At this point, all I really want to do is run.