April A-Z Challenge: A Tale of Four Cities [J]

Blog entry #10

Jai Jawan Library | Jalebis | Jujubee | Jackfruit tree

Jai Jawan Library
It’s a small shop with mostly second-hand books, and an old man running his library in Derasar Lane in Mumbai. You could borrow upto 4 books and return them within 2 weeks, so I would happily take Secret Seven, Famous Five, Fatty series, Amelia Jane, Brer Rabbit and Malory Towers books one after the other in sets of 4, and binge read daily for hours together. Ah those golden times. I still binge read, but not for more than an hour nowadays. From grades 3 to 5, I would walk every alternate day to this library to borrow new books and coming back home beaming. I have this library and of course, Enid Blyton, to thank for making me an avid reader.

Jalebis (Hyderabad)
I’m not a sweets person - the only sweets I could eat 2 of at a time, were Kaju Katli and Pista roll. In my second year in campus, I called up Mom after having mess dinner one night and she almost fell off her chair. The news I gave her was that I ate not one but two: Jalebis!!! You could call it a phase shift. From them on, anything you gave me - mysore pak, soan papdi, malpoa, pedas, gulab jamun, I’d say: bring it on! I didn’t slide to the other extreme, it’s just that I became more of a yes man, woman rather, wrt trying out different sweets. 

Jujube
In Chennai, when you want to tell someone a task is a piece of cake, you’d simply say: "Idhu Jujube". I didn’t know Jujube was a small fruit until recently. Thanks to my Chennai cousins, I also learnt other local slang words like Jujube, mass, Pista, and Appatakkar. It’s fun when you say it the right way, with the accent, and boy does it surprise and sometimes, elicit a laugh with those unsuspecting. 

Jackfruit tree
I love all fruits, except one - the jackfruit. It has a distinct smell (I’m controlling my urge to say stench lest I get hit in the head with one - it’s a big fruit! To each their own, eh?) and I cannot get myself to eat it despite adding it to my new year resolutions every year for the past three years. In Bangalore, we pass a huge jackfruit tree en route to grandma’s house. It’s not a particularly scenic route, there are residences of people working in DRDO, a basketball court, empty most of the times when we pass by it, and a normal-looking petrol pump. This one tree is the most fascinating thing you can see on the way. Nature is simply marvellous - this tree can hold lots of heavy fruits hung high up its branches.
Fun fact: jackfruits are also known to grow from the underground roots in some rare cases, wherein the fruit cracks the ground over it and emerges outside.

Image courtesy: Google ©