Cocos nucifera - prices set to go up

Summer is hot..really hot in Bangalore and generally in South India. In fact we had the hottest April in 27 yrs. What has this lead to?

The common thing and the first guess is "rise in the sales of cool drink"

For what cool drink. I suppose all cool drinks had a good market. 

When I said cool drinks, i am sure you thought about Pepsi, Coke, Maaza, Frooti etc etc. Though most of you have had TENDER COCONUT WATER (TCW, ಎಳ ನೀರು ), none of you would have thought it as a cool drink.

TCW is the best and healthiest cool drink that you can have in a hot summer day. I love the drink and have had it a lot during this summer. 

In around 100 sq mts, there are 4 vendors of TCW near my home. All the 4 are pretty busy making holes into cocus nucifera or coconut. At the end of the day, there is none to make hole and that's when they pack their bags for the day. Next day begins at 6:45am with a fresh stock arrival from places like Tumkur, Arsikere, Kanakapura etc. In the old airport road you can see atleast 6 vendors of TCW between HAL to Marathalli. This is a common phenomena across Bangalore.

Most of us are consumers of coconut either in its copra form (ತೆಂಗಿನ ಕಾಯಿ)  or as dry copra (ಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ) or coconut oil. I need not teach Botany for you to explain that TC ages to become copra which ages to become dry copra which is in turn used to make coconut oil. 

To put this in perspective, here are some cocos facts.

• If tender coconut water is required, the nuts of 5-6 months of age are harvested.
• If copra is needed (for culinary purposes), the nuts of 8-10 months are harvested. 
• If dry copra is needed for coconut oil extraction and for other purposes, then fully ripe nuts of 10-12 months or so are harvested.

As we have consumed a lot of TCW, we harvested nuts at the age of 5-6 months. Or the nuts are not let to become copra. So there would be lesser copra. The demand supply law says that if the supply is less and the demand is more, the prices will increase. With no chance of increasing the production of cocos, I can only see my expenditure on coconut (and its products) going up.

Gear up for the increased expenditure!

   

When the pores open up

Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
16.02.2010.
Night - sometime after I sleep. I did not check the time on my mobile.

I wake up suddenly (which doesn't happen often). Felt my forehead. Its wet. Same feeling as I caressed by neck. Bloody Sweaty. Am I sick? Confirmed No. Walked to the window to check if there is something called "WIND" to cool me. Leaves of the plants were sleeping without swaying. Wonder why they call window WINDow! Grrr!!!  Drank some water. Back to bed. Sleep.

The act repeats some hrs (lets put it some time) later. Perhaps it was already 17.02.2010. I did not bother to go to the window. This time more pores of the body had vomited out the salty fluid. Sweat. Arms, stomach all wet. More water went in to feed the hungry body pores. Glass empty. Body lazy to walk to kitchen to fetch more H2O. Sleep.

It happened again. The pores of my skin had done it again. Woke me in sweat. Frustratingly checked the time. 2:53am. Cant the clock run faster? Grrr!!! again. Went to the kitchen. Noisily drank and fetched water(for the next refilling). Realized that the artificial source of WIND was off. Fan. How couldn't I think of it earlier? Switched it on. Sleep.

Trinn...Trinn...(whatever sound). Its 5:20am. 10 more mins(grace period) of sleep warned the mobile. Grrr!!! yet again.

And ended a bad night...began an interesting day.

This winter was short and not cold.
Wonder what would it be at peak summer months! Power cuts. Mosquitoes. Heat. The pores. Grrr!! Where is my sleep?

Welcome Indian summer!