The Bimbli Tree

Ahhh!  Remember the bimbli tree?  I’ll bet there was one right outside your Goa house.   This one is much like the one just outside the hall window in Mae’s house located in Boddiem, a little village in Bardez.

As soon as we arrived here for our summer vacation in May, we dashed outside to the Bimbli tree and helped ourselves to its tart and juicy fruit.

‘at least put some salt on it’ Santan would yell and hand us spoons of salt which we held in the palm of one hand, leaving the other one free to pluck bimblis and dip them into the salt before shoving them into our mouths.

‘leave some for mae to make pickle with’ Santan would yell from the window laughing at our puckered mouths and shaking heads.  So, we quit eating all the fruit and left some for Mae to make pickle with because each day, the farm hands who left at break of dawn without breakfast, looked forward to their kanjee with pickles.  Out of the two or three pickle selections that Mae let them eat with their kanjee (also spelt like Congee), one of the selections was the bimbli pickle.  In case any of you have forgotten or don’t know, kanjee is a thick rice porridge made by boiling less rice with a lot of water and a little salt.  The result is this thick blandish soupy mix and generally accompanied by a piece of fried or pickled fish.  Pickles are nice with it too, the fiery taste of lime or raw mango, nicely complimenting the bland taste of kanjee.