I felt as if I lost a dear friend when I got the news that the cashew tree in the compound of our home had fallen in a storm.
Years ago, when we shifted to a house on a large piece of land, what attracted us most was the sprawling cashew tree that stood near the southeast corner of the compound. It being the cashew season, the tree was full of flowers and cashew apples in different stages of growth. Red and green fleshy apples with nuts at the end hung from the branches. Since our schools were closed for the summer vacation, we spent most of our time under the tree. A swing was tied to a low branch of the tree to make it more pleasant.
When even a breeze shook the branches gently, some ripe fruits would fall to the ground. My elder brother, younger sister and I would run to pick them up. We would suck the sweet juice of the fruits after removing the nuts and dropping them into our pockets. We did not care even to wash the fruits. There would always be several crows and squirrels nibbling at the fruits hanging from the branches. When they could no more hold on to the fruits, they would fall to the ground. We would throw away the half-eaten apples and pocket the nuts.
ADVERTISEMENT
As the tree was infested with large red ants that would bite intruders, our parents had prohibited us from climbing it. The only other way was to throw stones and foot-long sticks at the hanging fruits, but our parents had prohibited that too as stones could cause serious injuries.
Our mother used to prepare tasty dishes with the kernels of unripe nuts. Sometimes we would open the ripe nuts with knives and eat the kernels after removing the cover. In the evenings, we would build a bonfire with the dry leaves and the twigs of the tree and roast the nuts in the fire. The outer shell would burn with a hiss as it contained oil. When the shell was burnt out, we would remove them from the fire, let them cool, and strike them with a stone to remove the shell and eat the warm, tasty kernel.
At night, bats would have the monopoly of the tree. They would be busy throughout the night sucking the ripe apples dry. The remnants of the apples with nuts at the end would be dropped to the ground. We would get up early in the morning to collect the nuts.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some traders visited houses that had cashew trees in their compounds to buy the nuts and later sell them to the cashew factories. Since our collection fetched a handsome amount, our parents would not give us any pocket money during the cashew season.