When Lemon Gets Costly, Life Changes!

 

The Talk of The Town These Days.

Years ago, Aishwarya Rai brought it to center stage when she sang and danced in "Hum Dil de chuke Sanam" ... Nimbooda, nimbooda. I can never dance to save my soul, so I always admire dancers. This pinches more so during Garba days as I live in Ahmedabad.  Anyway, I was mesmerized by her dance ( who won't :) ) and the way she was asking for the small, raw lemon by fluttering eyelashes- 

Nimbooda nimbooda nimbooda

Nimbooda nimbooda nimbooda

Arre kaacha kaacha, chhota chhota

Nimbooda laayi do!

I am sure, there were many who would have run to the vegetable vendor to get the beautiful lass, that green-yellow raw nimbooda. 

What if she has asked for it now?

Hey, nimbooda have you ever been to Apeejay School, whose motto is - "Soaring high is my nature" and gets inspired from there?

Lemon is not only the best summer thirst quencher, but it is also the best and cheap "evil eye" talisman that you must have seen across shops and homes in India. 

With rising prices, this religious paraphernalia has become costlier. The story goes like this. Goddess Laxmi has a sister by the name of Alaxmi, who was just opposite of Laxmi. She represents inauspiciousness and grief and is the opposite of Lakshmi who is the goddess of auspiciousness and joy. Alaxmi loves spicy and sour food while Laxmi loves sweets. They both come together on earth and visit people. No one wants Alaxmi to enter their homes. So, to ward off her evil eyes, they hang lemon and chili at the entrance so that Alaxmi gets attracted and stays out of their homes while Laxmi enters and a prasad of sweets is kept ready for the Goddess Laxmi inside the home.

Now warding of Alaxmi, the other sister of goddess Laxmi is costing huge Laxmi. The Rs. 5 has multiplied to rs. 25, so now instead of replacing it every day, people replace it a fourth or fifth day. This does not affect either the seller or the buyer as the average spending and earning per day remained Rs. 5. Actually, it has added a factor of sustainability. Now the nimboo-mirchi is used for 5 days instead of throwing it every day. 

Tamarind Drink 

As they say, everything happens for something good. With the high prices of nimbooda, if anyone in an Indian household feels thirst, he is offered imli ka khatta meetha paani with kala namak and bhuna jeera. It is equally good and looks like coke, so after-drink effects are for a longer duration. :) Imli is very much happy and feels that her time has come now. 

With a lemon costing 20 rupees, people say they are offering whisky, beer, gin, vodka or tequila to guests. "Guest khus Hua", gave that Mogambo feel or the Gabbar Singh feel. This the guests can decide depending upon their liking of the filmi characters. But our guests are not so lucky. I told you we are in Gujarat. No, it is not that people do not get these hard drinks here. There is free flow all around, only police and other government agencies do not know. But, I have made a personal choice of not doing anything against the law, I am not a politician, who takes pride in breaking the law. So, we are offering plain cold water, Imli soda, and Aam-Panna to our guests.

If you watch any of the news channels in India, it feels as if people have stopped living due to this price rise of our cheapest Vitamin C source. I do not know from where they bring out those cribbing housewives whose budget gets upset with lemon price rise but there is no reduction in their outings to cinema halls or visitors from Amazon. The other day, I saw my neighbour, Mrs. Kaul on one of the news channels that has news anchors with deadly sad facial expressions. With all the grief, she can bring to her face, she was almost on the verge of crying because of the soaring prices of lemon,s and then immediately after, she went to the airport to board a flight for her trip to the USA, where she and her family will spend a fortnight spending almost 5 lacs. Don't ask me how I knew the amount. She flaunted :) 

Lemon feels happy to be in the league of onions, which at one time had political repercussions and was the reason of the fall of governments. 

So, this is all about the lemon saga! 

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