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| From an earlier Pineapple Fest - Image from Outlook |
I live in Pineapple
City. It is a small town which officially is a village. The tang of ripe
pineapple suffuses the very air of the town whose real name is Vazhakulam.
Trucks filled with pineapples leave Vazhakulam market every day to different
parts of India. The annual Pineapple Fest, which used to be a grand affair, was
thwarted by Covid this summer. But pineapples have remained ubiquitously
visible in Vazhakulam like in the past many decades. You can see hundreds of
acres of land cultivated with pineapple if you travel in the neighbourhood of
this place. The local people will tell you proudly that the particular variety
of pineapple which grows here has a unique succulence.
The boast is not an empty one, I think. I am not a connoisseur of any
food though I can distinguish good taste from the bad like normal people. I
think the Vazhakulam pineapples do have a difference. No wonder they have been
given a Geographical Indication Number too, No. 130.
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| Part of Pineapple Market, Vazhakulam - Image from Malayala Manorama |
The pineapple never fascinated me particularly whether of Vazhakulam or
any place. Mangoes have remained my favourite fruit for long, followed by the
humble oranges. But when I read in a book yesterday that the pineapple was a
rare royal fruit in the old days and that a single fruit of that species was
sold in the 17th century for today’s equivalent of 5000 pounds [INR
475,000], the pineapple – my next-door fruit – rose in eminence in the list of
my desirable fruits.
The pineapple belonged originally to South America, this book informs
me. It had reached the Caribbean by the time Christopher Columbus landed there.
Soon the fruit migrated to Europe following the example of all other good
things from many other parts of the world. But transporting pineapples was not
quite easy in those days. Cultivating it was even tougher a job. So it remained
very expensive.
Russia’s Catherine the Great and England’s Charles II were huge fans of
the pineapple. The fruit became such a status symbol that people displayed it
instead of eating it when they got hold of one. Poems were composed in honour
of the pineapple. The guests of aristocratic evenings boasted about the taste
of the tiny slice they managed to get with some difficulty.
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| Dunmore Pineapple - Image from National Trust for Scotland |
The 4th Earl of Dunmore built a temple on his Scottish estate
in honour of the pineapple in 1761. Christopher Wren, acclaimed architect among
other things, crowned the south tower of St Paul’s Cathedral in London with
this divine fruit.
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| St Paul's Cathedral, South Tower |
The close of 19th century altered the fortune of the
pineapple, however. Hawaii mass-produced the fruit and steamships carried them
everywhere. The fruit became ubiquitous. What is common can no more be royal.
Thus the pineapple became a humble, ordinary person’s fruit. It doesn’t occupy
any significant place in elite evening parties. Nor will any architect think of
giving the dome of his classical construction the shape of the pineapple.
The book in which I read these things – The School of Life
written by a group of some 20 writers – says that “The pineapple itself has not
changed; it is our attitude to it that has.” We considered the pineapple as the
queen of fruits when it remained beyond the reach of the ordinary people.
Economics has the dirty habit of controlling our loves!
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| Pineapples on sale at a shop in Vazhakulam |
Industrialisation, say the authors, was supposed to give us good quality
products at cheaper prices. Everybody would be able to afford quality now. But
in the process a tragedy happened too: industrialisation has robbed “certain
experiences of their loveliness, interest and worth”.
This has added to the superficiality of our attitudes and loves. We take
things for granted now because they are relatively cheap. That attitude passes
into our dealings with people too. Alas, into our dealings with our gods too.
Into anything and everything.
As a result, sanctity has all but vanished from our world. Is there
anything sacred anymore? That is the ultimate question raised by the pineapple.
[Metaphorically, of course.]
I shall bite into the next slice of my pineapple with the renewed wonder
of a little child and savour its divinity anew.
This reminds me that aluminium was once valued more than gold too, before its mass production leading to its easy availability. Industrialisation does change our view of a product. Atleast their history can remind us of their worth. :)
ReplyDeleteThat precisely is the point. I digressed just for the fun of it.
DeleteWow I had no idea pineapple carried so much importance once upon a time. As you said in your post sir, once anything becomes easily available to everyone it loses it's sheen and this undervaluing attitude percolates into everything... That's what has happened and is continuing to... Everything is a commodity these days and therefore people have forgotten their erstwhile value!
ReplyDeletePrecisely. One of the curses of industrialisation is precisely this commodification and consequent devaluation.
Delete