Defeated by Dad.

My Dad and I take a lazy stroll in our backyard in kerala and the serene quietness encompasses me. Being brought up in a city, i was not used to the beauty of nature. And this is a nature lover's paradise. What more could yo ask for when it was right outside your door.

I write down my morning's adventure as the rain patters on the tin roof of the shed. The sound of rain is like second heaven. Somehow it clears my mind of all harsh thoughts and i'm lost in this new found pleasantness.




Back to our backyard story.My dad walks ahead of me, with each step on the leaf layered Earth making his presence known. He asks me what i think is the pink fruit hanging from a tree there.I can't quite see it so i go forward and i see a cashewnut fruit with the nut hanging dearly below it. We reach the foot of the tree and scavenge for the fallen fruit below. I collect 2 firm looking ones and hand them to Dad. Both of us smile with satisfaction.

And then he tests my knowledge of plants. OH NO!! he eh. Quite an embarassment! He asks me what is this tree?




I'm looking at him with that 'Do-you-really-think-i-know-look' and he's looking at me with that triumphant smirk.

It's a teak tree he says! And then i notice all the teak trees around and point them out.Wow.
And then he asks me, What is this? (It was a plant.. not yet a tree! in my defence :P)
I mumble a feeble-'tamarind'?
Ha ha you should have seen the look on his face!
It's drumstick and i have it at home! Sheesh Annette! But give me some credit, i guessed it after the first clue..'you can eat the leaves'

Then he asked me a simple one-Jackfruit
(Dad, do you think i'm blind and stupid? :P There are jackfruit hanging all over it!!)



But NO!! That's NOT THE QUESTION!
He asks me, Whats it called in malayalam?
'Er... em... cha.. i know it'
and he's not expecing 'chacka', he wants the name of the tree not the fruit.
He tells me its 'plaave'
And i'm like 'Oh..yea' (And he's told me this like a million times before!!)
Then he asked what a mango tree is called and after a few seconds (of intense thought) i said 'maav'
Yes, he's got a proud smile on his face.
SCORE! yippee! :)

Next, we see pinapple,pepper,turmeric,fern,tapioca,yam etc etc. My Dad's the best..i mean he'll just smell the leaf and say what tree or plant it is! heh.
MAN.
I wasnt bad either.. he asked me to smell the mango and turmuric leaves and i guessed right! ha ha. Although i could make out from the leaf itself! :P

Then he asked me what tree bears fruit on it's trunk?
WHAT KIND OF A QUESTION IS THAT??
And then i gave myself another score when i said

1)Cocoa
2)Papaya
He said 3) Jackfruit
Now why didnt i think of that? Didnt realise that!

He even smelt the tapiocca leaf and confirmed it. My claim was that it was PAPAYA..ha ha..thats funny! (It was a small plant! who can make out?? apparently he can!)



And then he asked me one last.
And i'm like thats just some money plant.
Poor Dad could have disowned me! ha ha.
It was Vanilla!
And I was like .. “Oh, yes…”
Ah, so that was a very nice walk. It’s always nice to walk with him.He knows a plant when he sees one and even the biological name sometimes. And about my knowledge of plants, NO COMMENT.
Heh :P

P.S. During my walk through our backyard in kerala, I almost went through a HUGE spider web!
Eeew.. yep, a nice juicy spider looked back at me. Woah.
I wish i'd taken pics this yr! so these photos are all compliments of google image search! heh :)