Kash enn Etth and how that became the Cashew Nut

kash meant ths smallest denomination of the rupiah during the British times … etth means 8
ergo Britishers heard kash enn 8 and named the Nut ...Cashew Nutt
saw a post about cashew nuts and it made me smile coz once I borrowed a long mallu skirt of my cousin's and went with her brothers and her to pick cashews ….
they taught me to recognise the noise a python makes when it is chasing hoomans ...I picked up the skirt and ran with them ...we used to build small fires and use coconut husk to char the cashew and then shell them and then eat them delicious nuts with ash stained hands ….
I would go off to my mom's elder sister's house even without my parents ...either my aunt or uncle would take me to their house …. my siblings used to find their house gloomy at night …. plus that place had a unique name named after bhoots mane ghosts … my aunt had all kinds of spices, rubber and rice and horticulture products growing on their estate ...

first time I saw mace and nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, breadfruit and little fish in the streams there …. they even had an ilimbika tree a highly sour dark green elongated awala kind of berry ….my aunt would let me collect stones and leaves and all that I wanted to collect … I would want to pack that to carry back with me and my parents always chucked my collectibles … used to pick up stuff and bring them home when I finished my 10th grade and was allowed to travel alone to Mallu land …I rarely eat kaju now ...specially kaju katli I can not stand ...lol
a decade later I Remembered or my Gut reminded me of the weird loud slithering noise a python makes ….one couple from Sheikalmudi estate in the Annamalais were going to Mumbai ….. and I was missing Pune sooooo much that I decided I Have to go say bye to this family in the late afternoon
and decided to take a shortcut via the tea bushes instead of taking the tarred Pakka road which would mean an hour long walk at the very least ...
so I started on my trip to this Guju and Sikh couple's house …. using the katcha footpath across the estate ….half way through my leisurely walk I remembered the Pink Wild Dogs which I had seen when on a Rare bike ride through the katcha estate roads ….I immediately searched around for a big stone and a big stick ...then I started singing loudly and thumping like an giant and increased my walking speed ….after a bit I heard sticks cracking and looked around to see if some workers were around … I tried calling out in Tamil ...

no reply
I stopped singing and walked briskly ...the noise got closer and it was that weird slithering noise I could not really pin point
the brain can be an ass at times …. but the Guts kick in with well fed and restfull Intelligence
I got this flash back of running through the cashew groves in Malluland ….
Ghost Mountain my aunt's place was called ...Bhootataan(ghost) Mala(mountain)

then curiosity which is another dumb feature we hoomans have Kicked in …. I wanted to make sure that it was a python
waited with baited breath and listened and then the noise got real close
and then Survival Instinct which Punches out the weird Indian concept of Maya kicked in
and I ran for my life in a Zig Zag way...best way to trick snakes I had read up about.... to reach the bungalow I wanted to reach …. the lady of the house saw me and asked what happened …. I asked her to ask her bungalow help IF they have sighted a python in those parts

the bearer confirmed my doubt …. I stayed and talked to the lady and her little child and her in-laws and they sent the cook along with me to drop me back home …...I practised my Tamil by asking him questions about the wild life in that Wild Life Sanctuary we were living in ...
I sent the cook back home after thanking him once I reached a point near my place.... after that day I stopped taking the footpath in the inside roads ….
then I made a Bigger Faux Pas
I did the Never Doable after that ...I wanted to go play badminton at the estate indoor badminton court ….it had wooden floors and excellent lighting …..one lady's kids who were good friends with me were on a break from Boarding school ….and they implored me to meet them at the club and I said Sure I will be there ...don't you both worry about how I will reach …. I like walking
the place outside my bungalow gate was a bus stop and I would watch the bus numerous times everyday ..it helped me keep time too ….
so that day I took the bus to the village ….OH MY GOSH … I was a tea estate Amma meaning executive's wife ….people like me could NEVER step inside a bus ...the LOOKS I got ….I felt like a Zoo exhibit
the firm gave a company jeep as the husband's car was in Assam
I told the kids mom that I took the bus and she shushed me and told me to not tell anyone and that I was supposed to call her if I EVER wanted a lift …..
boy oh boy is there any Privacy on an estate ...the workers in the bus were giving me Strange looks and the news was all over Everywhere ….
I used to babysit kids and avoid getting into any kind of dialogue with Double Entendre ….I never got their jokes many a time ….I never watched their kind of movies nor did I like listening to local news ...I had come from a circle where Everyone spoke academics and Research only …. and I read a major amount of classics and I was the Odd one out there
…. plus I used to teach and that too was held Against me by a select few ...plus despite being a Mallu ...I spoke in Fluent Hindi and that Irked another lot …. boy it was total Hotel California with a twist
then one mean dentist who was the husband's manager's wife sat in front of me during a party with her Coorgi friend who had a mallu husband (the only man I have seen eating tamarind like I used to as a kid) ...and both ladies went on about how I look like a maid, dress like one and behave like one too …. they named me The Nanny :/
I stopped greeting people at parties and that too was pointed out during another party ….
that estate was the Start of me donning my Anti Social garb
later on in Assam it became my Armour/ Suraksha Kavach