all the tea estate bungalows i lived in, had a huge kitchen garden. the ones in assam had a rich diversity in what one could get as trees growing in the kitchen garden. the last estate i lived on had a coconut palm, mulberry tree, litchi tree, a tree bearing oranges, plantain, mango tree, jack fruit tree, jambul tree, pineapple bushes and guava trees in the front yard bordering the flower beds next to the bamboo hedge. the hedges in assam were of bamboo grown in close proximity to each other and it made for a great hedge. the back yard also had a lot of sweet potatoes creepers i had asked the gardener to plant.
every once in a while... in season we would get to eat home grown fruit from the garden. i learnt new techniques of agriculture, such as having a light fire burnt under the fruit trees in the blossoming season.this was to ensure that smoking the tree would guard against worm infestation in the fruit blossoms. sometimes we would have a large crowd of chattering monkeys paying us a visit ....i would run indoors with my one year old as soon as i heard them if i was out in the garden and watch them from the safety of the grilled and netted verandah.
litchis were my favourite fruit, and i gorged on them when in season, sometimes i had accidents in farming like once i planted spinach seeds and got poppy flowers, another time it turned out to be parsley. once in a while i also had a bumper crop of broccoli, beans and cabbage. agriculture is a very rewarding activity to engage in when living on the tea estates.it substituted very well for lack of and inability to have a professional career. the wonderfull green cover also helped me forget the mayhem we lived with in assam.
so as usual when i saw a bunch of bananas nearly ripe in the back yard. i told the gardener to cut the bunch and get it home.after he brought it inside the house i made him keep it in the dining room floor. after he left i decided to check on the bunch, as my baby was sleeping and i had some spare time. i nearly touched the bunch of bananas and i thought ...oh there is some string from the plantain plant caught in the bunch. i stooped to pull it out but some gut instinct made me stop short of touching it and i decided to call the gardener back into the house. i told him to cut the string up and pull it out .....but when i went to show him the string on the plantain bunch.......surprise surprise the thing had disappeared!!!!!!!
yikes.... my instincts told me it had to be a snake and now i was petrified......that the snake had crawled out into the house....!!!!!!!!! first thing i went and locked the bedroom door to ensure it did not crawl in there, next i told the gardener to sprinkle a disinfectant all around the house and outside .......but nothing.... no snake anywhere in the big house....so the gardener had a bright idea to check the plantain bunch with a long stick...he so casually carried the plantain bunch out to the lawn.......i was so petrified of what a big risk he was taking.........and i kept calling out to him to stop poking around .....from the verandah.....soon there was a small yell from the gardener.... and i saw a light brown snake with black spots or stripes on it as it sped away across the lawn into the flower plants next to the lawn ......i was so happy to see the snake go away from the house .....end of the search for the snake in the house ....
but i can never eat bananas without thinking of snakes....and how i would have got bitten by one.... if my instincts had not warned me ........
