Day 4 - Fruits

Appa always wanted us to eat fruits everyday. He would buy seasonal fruits from the fruit market and we always had the best of the season.  He never bargained, so the fruit vendor gave him the best pick. If at any time the vendor gave substandard quality, Appa never went back to the same person.

We were not that well off, but appa spent on fruits saying that he would rather spend on it than pay a doctor.  He would meticulously clean the pick of the day before dinner, cut it and portion it so that we had it after dinner. It was always his chore to prep the fruit before dinner.  Mangoes were his favorite. He took pleasure in slicing and dicing them. Removing the peel on some varieties and juicing and pulping others.  He always mixed mango with curd rice and relished it. We kids never understood the taste but that was his way of eating curd rice during mango season.

My cousins used to look forward to his visits during mango season because he got the best from fruit market and took pride on the pick.

One of the many traits of my appa that I follow is to have at least one fruit a day. I also do the same with my kids. There are at least three varieties of fruit I buy every week. I pack fruits for school and encourage the kids to choose fruits over junk for snacks.

Now that he is back from hospital, he is unable to eat solids. He is given fruit juices, tea, soup, rasam rice blended in mixer, kanji. I pray he gets better soon since his favorite mango season is right around the corner.