Fruits of labour; labour of love?

The past few days I have treated myself to quite a few tropical fruits that are not so common here in the US.But I do notice that southern California seems to offer such delicacies more probably because of the proximity to Mexico and the Hawaiian islands.
Anyway,the fruits I have had recently are sugarcane, pineapple, papaya and pomogranate.Yes,I did enjoy the taste,colour and texture of these fruits but that is not the topic of this post.What I want to write about is the memories that unexpectedly came flooding back as I was cutting up these fruits.

My grandfather was a lover of food in general and fruits in particular. He worked in the region of Madras (my hometown) where the wholesale fruit and vegetable market that supplied the whole city was located.Everyday, as he walked to and from the busstop to his workplace, he passed these stores bursting with the freshest of fruits from all over the country.If there was one indulgence that my grandfather had,it was theese fruits that he brought home.

One fruit that was perennially on his list was the hill plaintain.This is a variety of banana that is smaller and sweeter.It was like a richer cousin to the lowly banana and was considered a bit of a luxury among many people because it was more expensive than the regular banana.But my grandfather liked this variety and always had only this.Even as he got older and frailer and starting having difficulties eating his meals,he continued to have one hill plaintain everyday.

Apart from this staple,he bought many other fruits.I did not realise until much later how well stocked our house was in the fruit department.We had a green plastic basket which sat on top of the fridge.And this basket always had atleast one other fruit along with the hill plaintain. Among the various fruits that my grandfather intoduced to us were the pineapple,papaya,custard apple,pomogranate,jackfruit,oranges,sweetlime,sapota*,nongu* and many more.Some of these fruits bring back especially fond memories.

The pineapple is a difficult fruit to clean and cut.There are thorns that grow into the flesh of the fruit and they have to be carefully removed.My granfather would patiently clean and dice up the pineapple into bite sized pieces for all of us to enjoy.Similarly the pomogranate also required quite a bit of labour to bring it to consumable form.Again,my grandpa did the honours.And as for the jackfruit,well that was a family affair!!My uncle,my grandmother and I all had to get into the cleaning process along with my grandfather!!

Later,when I moved out,I longed to take back some of the exotic fruits that I had tasted to my grandfather.But he was very old by then and could no longer digest unfamiliar foods.

Food connects us not only to our culture but to our family too.My granfather passed on a year and a half ago but for the rest of my life everytime I cut a pineapple or bite into a hill plaintain I know I will think of the times my grandfather loving fed me all those different fruits. Hopefully,he will be looking down,glad that he has succeeded in instilling his love of fruits in his granddaughter.Thank you, Thatha!!

* - What are these fruits called in English?