PAN India lockdown has brought
lot of changes in the lives of people, as all of us are trying innovative ways
to keep up engaged than just lying on bed. No one can lie on bed for long time
especially when people have led a busy life, parents are worst effected during
this lockdown. Firstly they are concerned about their children who are in far
off places and secondly they want to spend time productively than just being
tuned to TV.
Due to lockdown my parents are unable
to go out frequently as they used to go before, thanks to the imposition of
travel restriction. But my neighborhood
is very helpful towards my parents, as a result of which I am able to spend my
days peacefully here in Bangalore. My neighbors buy veggies, medicines or any
other thing needed by my parents, a good neighborhood is always a boon.
This is the season for jackfruits
in Kerala and with lockdown in place, people who have jackfruit trees are
sharing the seasonal produce with their neighbors. My parents often get
jackfruit from our neighbors but due to non-availability of fish they don’t
prepare the traditional jackfruit recipe of the state. Even they can’t finish
these jackfruits by themselves in one go and it can’t be preserved for long due
to its perishable nature.
Then my parents decided to make jackfruit
chips, as it has long shelf life if preserved properly and it consumes good
amount of time to make it and it will keep them busy for a long time,
especially during afternoon times. Most difficult part in the entire process is
first to de seeding the fruit and then slicing them down uniformly. My dad is
an expert in the entire, he doesn’t need anyone’s help, if required he can
perform the task all by himself. But mom and I pitch in the de seeding process
and the slowest amongst us in me, as I rarely do it and not used to the process
but enjoy relishing upon the recipes.
These days whenever I call them
they are usually busy preparing jackfruit chips and it serves as their evening snacks
for tea, so they don’t buy snacks from shops now. My parents are the not the
only one to make these chips but most elderly people in our neighborhood is
doing the same now, few who have banana plantation are making banana chips too.
I am really happy for my parents and
the neighborhood for the innovative way adopted by them to make jackfruit or banana
chips at home during their quarantined period. Skills mastered by them during
their youth days have come to their rescue at these testing times and important
aspect of it is that, they are indoors most of the time, which is a great sigh of
relief for me.
I have requested my parents to
pack the chips safely for me till I meet them next as I love jackfruit chips,
my all-time favorite snacks. I hope till the end of quarantine period they make
good amount of chips for me and my friends.
