Reminiscing happy childhood.......

I did not have luxurious childhood.............but sure had a happy, loving, stable one...

Among other joys...one joy was abundant and variety of foods...mostly fruits, nuts, tubers, veggies..

We had our own orchard  and vegetable patch..with dozen varieties of produce..including those ever-present crunchy guavas..

Also, our relatives would there harvests like sugarcane, peanuts, peas, mushrooms etc...

The tribal ladies will fetch truffles and other forest products like honey, East Indian ebony fruits (locally called kendu)..charoli nuts (which  were used for sweets)...

Myriad other wild fruits which I remember but can't tell their proper names....if only I knew them and can give them ttheir due popularity...

Village kids will roam on summer noons with basketful of plump date palm fruits...also palmyra palm fruits... sometimes, Spanish lime (mamoncillo/ kusum)..

Mother would dry the dates and kendu fruits and keep in clay pots, for us to enjoy in rainy season..

Village men would scour the ponds for water chestnut....we used to relish them raw or boiled...

In Dusshera times, custard apples were abundant....the sweet, fragrant flavor takes me down the memory lane..

I am sad to realize, most of the plants have been victims of over-exploitation...

Ignorant of their value, tribals have cut them for firewood and timber..

The happy days will never come back...

Overpopulation have ruined the world...