When I got the news that the cashew tree in the courtyard of our house had fallen in a storm, I felt as if I had lost a dear friend.
Years ago, when we shifted to a house on a large piece of land, what attracted us most was the cashew tree that stood near the south-east corner of the complex. Being cashew season, the tree was full of flowers and cashew apples at different stages of growth. Red and green fleshy apples with nuts at the end hang from the branches. Since our schools were closed for summer vacation, we spent most of our time under the tree. To make it more enjoyable, a swing was tied to the lower branch of the tree.
When the wind also gently swayed the branches, some ripe fruits fell to the ground. My elder brother, younger sister and I ran to get them. We used to take out the sweet juice of fruits and put them in our pockets. We didn’t even care to wash the fruits. Many crows and squirrels are always gnawing on the fruits hanging from the branches. When they could no longer hold the fruit, they would fall to the ground. We used to throw away the half eaten apples and put the nuts in our pockets.
Since the tree had big red ants that used to bite the intruders, our parents forbade us to climb it. The only way out was to throw stones and leg-long sticks at the hanging fruits, but our parents forbade that too as the stone could cause serious injury.
Our mother used to make delicious dishes from the kernels of raw fruits. Sometimes we would crack open the ripe fruits with knives and remove the lid and eat the kernels. In the evening we used to make bonfire with dry leaves and twigs and roast dry fruits in the fire. The outer cover was hissing and burning because it contained oil. When the shell was charred, we would remove them from the fire, let them cool, and stone them to remove the shell and eat the hot, delicious kernels.
The bats would have a monopoly on the tree at night. They used to suck and dry ripe apples overnight. At the end the remains of the apple along with the nuts will be dropped on the ground. We used to get up early in the morning to get nuts.
Some merchants used to visit houses that had cashew trees in their premises and later sell them to cashew factories. Since we had a substantial amount in our collection, our parents did not give us any pocket money during the cashew season.