The coconut trees in Castle St

Decades ago I decided on a whim to plant two Deejay graft coconut trees at the back of our Castle Street house with the boys. There was a friend named Everest who was working with Deejays at the time looking after their coconut project. He works in the Middle East today looking after their date farms.

"We have space for two trees," I said and one day the door bell rang and there stood Everest with our two coconut saplings. They cost  a princely 10 rupees each and the boys and I had fun digging the pits at the back and putting down the trees.

 
"They are two different species,"said Everest and only after they grew and fruited did I understand what he meant. The front tree had huge fruit and the back tree smaller and greener fruit. Supposed grafts which are meant to be short, these have grown more than 20 feet tall.

 Narsimappa de-husks the coconuts with an easy de-husker bought off Amazon.

The first tree grew very fast.  Giving two fruit in one year. It was so exciting to see how rapidly the trees grew and  threw out sprays of flowers and fruit. The first tree gave massive fruit. If one fruit fell on anyone they would surely die. They were at least 2 kg a fruit. The fruit had an orangey hue and the kernels were thick and delicious. All our friends asked for them and Mum made her famous coconut sweet for Christmas with  freshly grated ones. Never forget her lime and coconut stuffed pan rolls which she made for Shrove Tuesday with our coconuts. I really miss my parents.

Today the trees are over 20 feet tall

Lucky for us Narsimappa and the boys especially Naveen can shin up the tree and remove the fruit. Twice a year we get a massive crop of fruit from just one tree. The second tree has stuck itself out over the back wall into Shoolay and the whole road feasts on our trees.Its hard but we have no option as the entire tree is over the back plot of land which belongs to them.

Freshly opened the husks are white and become brown over time

I have started selling the coconuts on a whatssapp group and am so surprised by immediate sales when the fruit have barely been brought into the house. Ten cleaned coconuts and they were gone in seconds to a friend on Rest House Road at a decent price.  The tender coconuts I have to hide as I can drink them by the gallon. "May I have 12 please?"says Bela or "May I have 10 please," says Suchita or "may I have 8 please for Peter," and Porter or Dunzo are at the door flying them across the city to my buyers.

A visit to Hoskote with Francis

 

Francis enjoyed his visit to Hoskote!

A long time ago when I had lost my twin boys, my Aunt in Australia insisted that I visited her and Uncle Gussie to recouperate and recover my equilibrium. Losing a child and in this case children sent me spiraling into despair. My parents were most supportive and yet I just could not pull myself out of grief. So when A Genny said "Come!"I thought ok, lets go. So we applied for an Australian visa and promptly got rejected! Nope sorry folks we dont want you guys coming here and absconding. So, Dad said call Francis Colaco he is in Delhi where we had applied for our visas  -- he will definitely help. My parents were his buddies. In minutes we called Francis and in hours we had our visas. THAT was the power of the man.

 With Naveen who wants to join the police

 THEN! I had the fight of my life with a consulate woman who misbehaved with me and when I said I would tell the police, she turned the tables on me. My siblings took her side because one lot was getting her rental and the other needed a German visa for their son. Where could I go and who could I turn to? Francis ofcourse! it seemed like Dad was telling me to go to him yet again. I took the video which clearly showed her hitting me, slowed down by my students in college and Francis came with me straight to the current IGP. He need not have being such a big man. Read my book Some Bark, Some Bite available on Amazon.

 Each time we connected with Francis and gave him a bag of fruit from the farm he would say -- take me to your farm. I never bothered thinking such a big man what would he do on on our tiny 2 acre farm? But this time when he helped my husband escape being scammed he asked yet again and on the spot we set up the date and we took him. 

Bangkok tamarind grown from seed by me from sweet tamarind brought from a conference.

How he loved it -- picking chickoos, eating SWEET Bangkok tamarind which I grew from seed, checking out our apples which a Colonel gifted me, fresh off the tree, 

I crunched it fresh off the tree -- core and all!

looking at our lures put up on our mango trees to save our crop and finally sipping hot coffee made with the Arabica coffee beans from a tree that was taken from Hayes road to Hoskote. Grandpas Arabica trees of which I stupidly took only ONE, when there were six which I could have transplanted.

Grandpas Arabica from Hayes road.

 Francis has promised to help Naveen who has applied to join the police. We did not ask -- he volunteered when the boy spoke to him. I hope he does, as these boys are like our sons and have grown up on the farm to strapping 20 year old men.

Francis, you have looked after us even when family did not. Karma will catch up with them, but we have Francis to help whenever we call.

Apples in Hoskote!

 

Anna Apples in Hoskote

It was any regular day for me last year when the door bell rang. Opening the door the DHL courier guy stood there with a large, odd looking parcel. It was clearly addressed to me so I grudgingly took it inside the house and tearing open the packet I was shocked to find a dozen bare root saplings with tags to them. They were different varieties of apples and to say I was surprised I definitely was shocked!

I run a Goa gardening whatsapp group and  a Colonel serving in J and K who is an avid gardener, had sent me the saplings as a gift. They were bare root and in a dormant state. I had seen such saplings in supermarkets in the UK so thats how I realised what they were. 

The 'blush'of a true apple!

To be honest I was totally sceptical.  Apples growing  in the warmth of the plateau of Bangalore??? Thats a ridiculous thought. But since the plants were with me, we dug the 12 pits on the property and put them down. It was such a shock to find the trees grew leaves in no time and seemed to revel in the farm atmosphere. Narsimappa ofcourse looks after them like his babies and brings poultry manure and cowdung which is mixed with leaf mould and fed to them.

Too many on a branch so I will prune them down to 2 or 3 fruit.

The apple is the Anna variety says the colonel which seems to have taken to Hoskote. Its an experiment which has worked well. And, its an exciting time for Narsimappa as we bring friends to see the fruit and every visit he gets handsomely tipped. Thats fine, cause in return he gives them some other fruit from the farm.  

Ravi and Sridevi tenants of 001

 

Ravi and Sri Devi our tenants for 5 years and now good friends

Suddenly I got a call from a clear speaking gentleman one evening, all of 6 years ago, asking to rent our Ground  floor apartment here in Hayes Road. He had seen my ad on Magic Bricks and decided to take a chance and call. In minutes he had set up a meeting for the next evening as he needed to tie up an apartment so that he and his wife Sri Devi could shift in. Ravi was a Director of a bank in Singapore and looked forward to heading a new bank being set up in Bangalore. 

Heliconias in Hoskote.

So the next day on the dot of a pre-planned time we met in our apartment and discussed if either of us wanted to rent or vice versa. He had his own flat in Rajajinagar but he was not happy with the quality of neighbours in the building who were loud and crass he said. Our building with its laid back peaceful nature was more what they were looking for, after living in Singapore. 

 The Indian Almond in Hoskote

I will get the lease printed on stamp paper by tomorrow if you send it to me by email said Ravi. And in minutes we had shaken hands and we knew we had good people coming to join the Hayes Community.  By nightfall the next evening he had come in and signed the lease agreement and they would shift in from Singapore, he said, in a week. And that was the start of a wonderful friendship.

Apples growing in Hoskote

The five years they lived here I was so amazed with Ravis prowess with cooking cordon bleu dishes. "I cook to de-stress after a long day at work," he would say.  

"Please do de-stress often," I would say, as the fruits of his sessions were always shared with us.Prawn or fish, pork or mutton, the dishes were varied and delicious. 

"Could you get me some tamarind leaves,"he would say and obligingly we would pull out some from just beyond our windows. In a few hours a delicious tamarind prawn concoction would arrive steaming hot into our home which was enjoyed with fluffy, fresh rice.

A chameleon trying to scare me!

Their home was like a gorgeous museum as Ravi was into antiques and bought the most marvelous, priceless stuff from all over the world. His biggest collection was statues of Buddha collected from all over the world. Hundreds and thousands of them filled every nook and corner of the apartment. No wonder no servant could be trusted to clean, when they went travelling to the US to see their only doctor daughter.  

 

The organic brinjal crop in Hoskote.

Infact after my younger brother passed away it was Ravi who helped me with handling the bank work as my brothers son ( that too is debatable) was a hindrance, being no help when it came to a recognised death certificate. He just sat on his hands demanding the money as an inheritor. I had to run from pillar to post to get one -- all he wanted was the money with no set documentation which all banks and auditors need. I can never thank Ravi enough for helping me close my brothers account and transfer the funds into the boys account.

Tabibuea Argentea infront of our Castle St home

So whenever they visit Bangalore they feel its imperative to see us over a meal and bring us a bag full of goodies from Hyderabad. What amazes me is they never fail to give their former cook and helpers a meal and a gift of cash when they visit. 

"Is Raju the security gaurd still with you?"asks Ravi as we get up to leave.

"Yes! ofcourse!" I say and he makes a detour before going to the airport to give him Rs 5000/-

"We love Pilerne!"they say, "and it took us a long time to get used to Hyderabad after being spoiled here."

I just hope our new tenants feel the same way when they leave Hayes.