Let’s understand the difference and appreciate it.

I am trying now. Trying to understand the difference. Difference between a jack fruit and a mango. Traditionally I am habituated to eat both in the summer. Not only because it is mostly, easily and prettily available in Kerala in summer but also because my parents, grand parents and all the uncles and aunts ate it. Just Imagine a big jack fruit with all its thorns and that white sticky substance called “Mulanju” in Malayalam, what is the English word for it ? I don’t know. In England there is no Jack fruit tree so forget it. Any way compare the jack fruit with a cute smooth skinned mango. A jack fruit has hundreds of seeds in it but a mango just one. Jack fruit is difficult to cut . Mango is easy-peesy for all Indians. ( I have heard about Europeans struggling with mango) Jack fruit is sticky and more smelly. Mango is not. It has moderate tolerable smell. It is juicy. We use all the seeds in the jack fruit but we throw out the just one and the only one seed in the mango. What a difference ! But which one is better ? I can not say. I can not keep a mango beside a jack fruit and belittle it. Some of my clan members say jack fruit is better. They say it has more vitamins and minerals in it and more use. Ok. May be. I am no scientist to argue. But I can not belittle a mango or hundreds of varieties of mango for that matter.

I agree jack fruit may be very good but can I ask the world to use it five times daily or at least every Sunday morning because it is good?. Can I send two evangelists to Alaska to preach about the qualities of jack fruit to Eskimos ? What will the Eskimos think ? Say.. if I say that every Eskimo should eat at least one jack fruit a month! Ha ..ha..ha..

Eskimos live in Igloo. Igloo is house made of Ice. Once two Eskimos were brought to New York when the temperature was below 10 deg. C. Pretty cold for us Indians. Eskimos could not tolerate that temperature. They became sick soon after landing. They had diarrhea and they vomited. They were immediately taken back to their place by plane. Now the Americans learned the difference. The difference is much greater than Boeing and Airbus (The billion dollar contract which India is contemplating). Now I too understood the difference.

Europeans like stiff mangoes. Not the juicy ones. They need special cutter to cut the mangoes. Like our Supari cutter. They cut it in the middle and make two halves. Then they remove the seed from it and fill it with plain cream or Ice cream. Place it in a bowl or hold it in hand and use a spoon to eat. You see now a spoon is a ‘requirement’ to eat a mango. Now I understand the difference and appreciate it.

I was in Chuk-chuk train ( small mountain train - earlier it was fitted with steam engines I like to call them that way because they look like toy trains ) coming down from Shimla. I met two South Indians in the train and felt happy myself being a southerner in the remote north. Engaged them in conversation. They were on an All-India-tour. Talking about many things conversation ended-up with temples in North India. “Oh! full of marbles..” they said “the Idol and the floor alike.. People touching the Idol.. ”. They seemed pretty upset and unhappy about it. Why ? I asked. “No bhakthi.. you see” they said in a chorus. What marble has to do with bhakthi or devotion ? I pondered. I sort of became googly until I discussed the matter with a North Indian friend. She said When her parents visited some South Indian temples they said the same. “What ?” I asked anxiously “ No bhakthi there “.. before I could ask why, she explained “Water and oil everywhere.. in the floor & on the walls, darkness every where, you can not even see the Idol properly forget about touching the Lord’s feet! ..She continued ”my Parents could not stay more than 3 minutes in any Temple in South India”. I had held some of the great temples of south in high esteem. So I became silent for sometime. To be frank I allowed some time for my ego to burn down. I said “I now understood the difference and I appreciate it”.

Now that is it. Differences exist. Difference persists and you can not change it. We can not humanize the jarawas of Andamans. When we do that they become either Hindus, Muslims or Christians. Then no more Jarawas. Let’s have them as Jarawas and live with the difference. A salad bowl with several vegetables is better than a bowl with a single vegetable.

Now whenever I see the difference whether it is north-south, Hindu-Muslim, black & white, bad roads & good roads , development & underdevelopment, good governments & bad governments, happiness & unhappiness, Truth & Lie I have no quarrel with any because I UNDERSTOOD THE DIFFERENCE AND I APPRECIATE IT.