the coconut's curse

back in the agrahaaram, in Machilipatnam, where I grew up, we always had many coconut trees in the backyard. Later we tried to plant some in the front and some by the side; of the four, only two survived. One died early, the other had to be butchered because it bent onto the terrace (or so my brother said: as far as I looked, it was way off the plinth.

what if a coconut falls down on one of us?

I used to sit in the backyard (the front was west-facing and obnoxious) among all the adults, and wonder if a coconut falls anytime! Another thing I was scared of was pralayam; they made it sound like it was irrational. Before Layam, pralayam has to happen. I don't worry about that much now.

back to the coconut grove

It almost looked liked that to me because on all four sides, for as long as I could remember, there were these overarching coconuts in the backyard and me wondering if one loose coconut would fall - on anyone of us... that would be enough pain for a life time. Later two lightenings hit us and we lost count; let us keep this biological and not make it a soppy boiblog.

The question is, what if a or the coconut falls? Who do I ask? Amma...
mother do you think the coconut will fall? If no, why no?
[mother do you think they'll try to break my soul...]

Mom told me that the coconut had a curse

I heard it first and the only time from my ma; I am not sure if this curse is a blessing, really; my biological explanation will follow, either in this piece (later on) or tomorrow (or later on).

Once upon a time, many people died of coconuts falling on their heads, and they suffered a lot. Palm trees did not cause trouble because they were tended to daily. But coconuts were a wild lot. And so the people who lived in the vicinity of coconuts prayed together; god appeared and asked what is the problem. They said here it is - in your creation are trees which grow wild and bear fruit which make no sense, and on top of it, they keep falling on our heads and it is a pain inded, me Lord.

The good lord thought for a bit and said, "Hereby
I curse the fruit of coconut not to fall on heads
human or cattle; they are free to fall when no one is watching
I ordain that they grow old and fall when there is a big wind to carry them farth
My diktat to the trees is not to bear such fruit as would fall on any passing-by head."

Thereby, said amma, there is no fear
The coconut will never fall no matter what be

There is no historic evidence of coconuts causing damage
Whereas palm-wine did much noise in the past and now

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