Seasons

They served us Aloo-Matar for lunch in the mess today. A perfectly fine meal, well cooked, tasty too. So what is the problem? The ‘problem’ is the matar (peas). Matar in summer/monsoons? I always thought that matar was a winter vegetable. But now matar (both of the ready to eat, frozen as well as the ‘fresh’ variety) is available all throughout the year. So are gobi and carrot and so many other vegetables that I had been told and knew to be available only in a particular season.

The same with fruits. I was in Bombay recently and there I came across ‘American’ apples. Huge, and brilliantly red (every last one of them, down to the very last speck). Now first of all, again, isn’t apple supposed to be a ‘winter’ fruit? And there it was sitting nice and pretty on the fruits vendor’s thela bang in the middle of the summer (and brilliantly red to boot!) Also, what was special about that apple apparently was that it didn’t rot at all… for days on end. It was always fresh and ready to eat and remained like that for atleast a week. Atleast that was how long I kept it to test his claim and nope, it hadn’t rotted at all…. Infact it wasn’t even over-ripe (ofcourse I had to keep it in the fridge – but still!)

Then ofcourse there is the curious incident of the litchis in Calcutta. For those of you not in the know, Litchis are extremely delicious fruits (my favourite). They are also very delicate (they rot very easily) and do not grow many parts of India. Infact, the best litchis are said to be available only in Bihar and Jharkhand and even if they are available in a few other eastern parts, they are not half as fresh or delicious (since they have already undertaken a long journey in their surprisingly short lives). Also, the true litchi skin is supposed to be thin (but not too thin) and red on the outside, colourless on the inside and the litchi itself is deliciously white and juicy. Now, till about two years ago, it used to break my heart to leave home and come to Calcutta in June since litchis were either not available in Calcutta, or even the small quantities that were, used to be exorbitantly priced, rotting and basically not a patch on the litchis available back home. Now suddenly, since the past two years, Calcutta is flush with bright (and deceptively) red litchis, whose skins are way too thin, and are pink! on the inside, and the litchi is not rotting, but is pretty tasteless and does not justify the bright red colour that the skin exhibits! Other fruits and vegetable too are available out of turn and out of place and season e.g. green grapes (they are now available at all times except the monsoons) and bhutta (corn). Others exist I’m sure, but they do not strike me at present.

So I ask… are these the fruits (quite literally) of plant biotechnology? In other words, are they the result of genetic tinkering? I do not presume to pass judgment on whether such use of technology is good or bad for human health etc etc. Lawyers will tell you that it is a sticky issue and I do not like sticky. All that I have a problem with is the fact that all this ‘development’ has robbed each season and each place of it’s unique speciality and personality. I like the fact that you get different vegetables at different times of the year, I like that some places have certain delicacies (of the fruit and vegetable kinds) that are not available elsewhere. I also like my fruits and vegetables to behave normally and ripen when they have to and rot when they ought to.

All else is like deceiving nature. It reminds me of what Wordsworth once said,
‘If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?’

- From ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’.