An Avalanche Of Apples!

Balajee · Oct 24, 2018

"One apple a day keeps the doctor away". You get enough apples to close down a whole lot of clinics. If you are bored of eating apples as apples (I hate doing thatr). think apple crumble, apple str apple korma, apple curry, apple pulao, biyani etc. You must have enough apples to make deepavali sweets.. Look at the bright side . In those days there used to be an avalanche of coconuts during navaratri in India. We got tired of eating all the time. Still there will be enough coconut for avial, aracchuvittu sambhar , coconut garnish on your veggies, There will still be enough coconut for Deepavali sweets . Aren't you happy you escaped all that?

gopalan1937 · Oct 25, 2018

meenasankaran said: ↑

Tut tut, click click, tut tut tut, click, click, click...

That was me typing furiously all this week looking up recipes involving apples. After making a few pitchers of fresh apple juice, a pot of apple rasam and a bottle of spicy apple pickle, I ran out of ideas but sadly, not apples.

Around this time every year, most Indian homes experience an avalanche of fruits. It’s Navarathri season which roughly translates to fun, comradery and an unholy amount of fruits for most people. It is the season when Indian women systematically empty the local stores of all produce and buy fruits by the truckloads. Interestingly, they will not eat a single fruit from that purchase. Say, a woman buys 100 apples. She will distribute all of it to her friends who visit her golu giving the illusion of an empty fruit basket.

Forgive me for this quick detour. I have only recently started to appreciate how math is interwoven in our everyday lives so here is a brain-teaser for you. If I bought 100 fruits and distributed 2 fruits per person, how many friends visited my golu? It is such a rush of power to know I can make my own word problems.

Getting back to the fruit distribution conundrum, now that the woman had given away all her fruits, where do you think she was headed next? To her friends’ homes, naturally. How else will her friends get rid of the mountain of fruits in their homes? Odd? Yes, but also totally fair.

This is my story every Navarathri season too. At the end of Saraswathi pooja last week, I was back to being in possession of over 100 fruits. If you think, this is the sum of all my problems (oh wow Meena) you have never been a performing arts teacher on Vijayadasami day.

I love Vijayadasami. It is the one day when my students lose the strained, constipated smiles and seem genuinely happy to see me. I get plenty of warm smiles that day without even a bribe. To me, it is the best gift ever but the parents of my students are not so easily impressed. They are convinced that nothing short of multiple bags of apples, oranges, bananas, pears and clementine will convey their love effectively to me. While I truly appreciate the sentiment, I do wish they will take pity on me and throttle back their love just a bit.

When my doctor advised me to include fiber in my diet last year, I don’t think she meant this much. Any more fiber and I will have the shiniest colon this side of the States.

Last night, I dreamed that I was being held hostage by a giant red apple who was holding a banana to my head while an orange was shoving a clementine down my throat. What a nightmare!

After consuming apples in all possible forms for a few days, I did what any teacher worth her salt would do. I threatened my students with extra homework unless they each took a bag of fruits home. A little harsh, I agree, but it worked. The mountain has now shriveled down to a manageable mound. Hallelujah!
Click to expand...

Ms Meenasankaran, we were wondering how to dispose off so many apples, when i saw your posting. Had a good laugh. Wish some one comes out with a prize winning solution.

gopalan1937 · Oct 25, 2018

Viswamitra said: ↑

Dear Meena,

Your math problem is easier than the ones I used to suffer with, when I was a student. Two trains left the stations which are 200 KMs apart from each other. One passenger train is traveling at an average speed of 50 KMs per hour and an express train is traveling at an average speed of 70 KMs per hour. At what point, these two trains will cross each other?

Hahaha. If a teacher who distributes healthy fiber food were to be rewarded, you will get the national best teacher award hands down. If I were you, I would compost them and use them as fertilizer to all my plants rather than distributing to my students. The students may have sensitive stomach and the school may get sued. It is worse than giving biscuits to the fellow passengers in the Indian Railway.

Alternatively, arrange the fruits outside home so that the squirrels can come and eat them. Watching them eat the fruits could be a nice experience.

Unless food well prepared under my careful scrutiny, I don't distribute anything to anyone even if it is to a homeless shelter.

Viswa
Click to expand...

Viswa sir, Very good ideas. If in India , distribute to orphanages. For US. I intend talking to some more people.

meenasankaran · Oct 25, 2018

@Balajee
Dear Balajee,

You made a good point about me escaping the avalanche of coconuts. I didn't think about that. I do love arachhu vitta sambar and aviyal but how long can one indulge in that, right?

Also, me making diwali sweets using apples may not be in the best interests of my family. As there is no delicate way of putting this let's just say that I suck at making any sweet but payasam. My kids made me promise a long time ago that I will treat them to an ice cream if the spirits ever move me to give them a sweet. Thanks for stopping by Balajee.

meenasankaran · Oct 25, 2018

Dear @gopalan1937 sir,

Like you, I am waiting with bated breath for that prize-winning solution to this excess fruit problem of Navarathi. Glad you enjoyed the post sir.