CASHEW FENNI (CAJUNCHI FENNI)
In Goa, two types of liquor are available � Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), and locally brewed Palm and Cashew Fenni. While the former is used throughout Goa, the latter is more famous in Bardez.
Just like urrak, cashew fenni tastes best when had neat. Most Goan farmers and laborers drink cashew fenni neat and mostly they finish a �kals� (cup) of fenni in one gulp, which is not the way to have a drink but if it suits them, fine! Generally, Goans are slow drinkers. To begin with, a good drinker may take as much as half an hour to drink a neat or diluted peg of cashew fenni. He, however, picks up pace as he continues to drink and may, at a later stage, refill his glass every 15 minutes or less, depending on his capacity to drink. The middle class and elite Goans also drink cashew fenni neat, but many prefer to dilute it with water, soda or a soft drink. In the 1960�s and 1970�s many used Dr. Jack Sequeira�s Coca Cola to dilute cashew fenni. A good cashew fenni drinker always likes to find out the quality of the fenni he is about to consume and he does it as follows:
He pours fenni in a glass and takes a small sip before it is mixed with anything. He leaves the sip on the tongue for a while and then gulps it down. This simple process enables him to comment on the quality of the fenni. If the fenni is adulterated, he feels the burning sensation travel down his throat and through the chest, thus confirming inferiority of the fenni. The other method to test the fenni is to dip the middle finger in a cup/glass of fenni (before it is mixed with anything,) light a match stick and set fire to the finger. If the fenni is strong and is of good quality, the finger immediately catches fire; if not, it won�t, thus proving that the fenni is weak and of inferior quality.
Just like brandy, cashew fenni is hot and produces heat in the body. It is in fact a winter/monsoon drink. For example, if you are drenched in the rain and take a shot of neat cashew fenni as soon as you enter the house/bar, it immediately creates heat in your body and makes you feel warm. Cashew fenni is like tequila; it tastes good when taken neat. The Mexicans go wild when they have a shot of tequila and begin to fire their revolver/gun at an opponent at the least provocation; Goans turn into tigers when they have a shot of fenni and think nobody can defy them while their partner (fenni) is with them! Many people drink cashew fenni during the summer and complain of unbearable heat and that�s because they keep on creating heat in their bodies! Cashew fenni is a beautiful drink but its odour is extremely strong. One can never deny having consumed cashew fenni. Not only that, if you are a regular cashew fenni drinker, even your clothes smell of the fenni!
In the 1950�s and 1960�s some doctors in Goa prescribed cashew fenni as a medicine. If anyone went to a doctor with low blood pressure, the doctor would immediately ask him if he drank liquor. If the answer was negative, he would not prescribe him medicine but would just ask him to take half a peg or a full peg (depending on the build of the person) of cashew fenni before meals � the result: Blood pressure would be normal within a day or two! Some doctors in Goa still prescribe cashew fenni as a medicine.
In the olden days, the cashew fenni was also used as a treatment for colds. Whenever one had a bad chest cold, the parents or the elderly would give him/her �Ulpailolo Cajuncho soro� (burnt cashew fenni) as per the following process:
They would pour a kals (cup) or two of cashew fenni in a vattli (brass plate), add a tablespoon or two of sugar and stir it until it was dissolved. They would then crush pepper seeds on a �fatorn� and spill the powder in the vattli. A match stick would then be lit and fire set to the fenni in the vattli - since the fenni then was of good quality, it never failed to catch fire. The fenni was left to boil and burn until it was reduced to half its original quantity. We would then extinguish the fire, place our face close to the vattli and inhale the hot vapor through nose. We would then take a teaspoon and enjoy every bit of the processed fenni medicine. We would repeat the process for two or three nights and, believe me, the chest cold would be gone by then. I still use this formula whenever I have a bad chest cold when home on vacation.
In the olden days, a bad cold was also treated with a mixture of cashew fenni and egg called �tantiachem massad� which was prepared as follows:
Break an egg and separate the albumen from the yolk. Place the yolk in a bowl, add a tablespoon sugar and beat it until it turns thin. Then add half or a full peg of cashew fenni, mix it well and drink it just as you would have a drink. Continue the massad for three days, and your cold is bound to disappear. The massad is to be taken early in the morning before you brush your teeth!
During childhood, falling down and getting bruised is a daily affair. Nowadays, parents rush to a doctor or a hospital if children fall down and suffer minor injuries. In the olden days, cashew fenni was used as a first aid whenever wounds were inflicted, and some people still use it. Simply pour a little fenni in a cup, add a teaspoon of salt and pour the solution over the wound. It burns for a while but it acts as a fast cure.
Many drinkers need just an excuse to drink fenni. Sometimes the injury may be slight but the victim dramatizes to make it seem a serious case and asks for a fenni bottle to be brought in as first aid. The moment the bottle arrives he begins to gulp it down making everyone wonder the purpose of the first aid. If asked, he replies: �Soro taiantlean ghatlear ghaian pavta.� Roughly translated, it means when the liquor is placed in the throat it reaches the wound! Isn�t it the shortest short cut to a remedy? In the past whenever serious injuries took place and if the patient could not tolerate the pain, the public would say �taka ungri laiat re� (put him on anesthesia.) Once he was placed on ungri - given cashew fenni by mouth � the groaning and moaning would die down! Many a times, the injury is indeed serious but if the patient has already consumed a lot of cashew fenni, he surely does not need any anesthesia - he is already on one!
In Goa, whenever St. John�s feast takes place, a newly wedded groom is required to give one bottle each of cashew and madd fenni plus fruits like mangoes, jackfruit, pineapple, etc., as an offering to the group of people who visit each house to jump in the well to celebrate St. John�s leap in his mother�s, Elizabeth�s womb, when Mary visited her after she conceived Jesus.
Even infants in Goa are given the taste of cashew fenni. In fact, in the olden days, the parents or godparents would dip a finger in cashew fenni kals and place it on an infant�s tongue and everyone around would enjoy the child�s bitter cries.
Drinking is one of the best things in life provided it is done within limits. It is the drinker who has to control the drinks. The moment he/she lets the drinks control him/her, he/she is as good as finished. We know very well that anything that is done in excess is bad for health and cashew fenni is not an exception. We also know about the forbidden fruit � you always want what you can�t have. Many small children in Goa sip beer from their parents� glasses while at a party or a function and most Goan parents do not mind it. These very children lose the urge for beer as they grow up and gradually don�t even want to touch beer, let alone other drinks. However, there are some who never allow their children to touch beer even when they grow up and get employed, and they are the ones who get too curious and become victims of liquor. It pains me to mention here that I have come across many people who never touched a drink in their whole lives but once they did they succumbed to it. Let us keep in mind that it was the curiosity that killed the cat!
During our childhood, �dontanchem duens� (worm disease) was very common among children. Whenever we suffered from stomach griping, our parents did not take us to a doctor. They would first make us munch and eat �pericheo komreo ani jirem� (shoots of a guava tree and cumin seeds) in the morning and afternoon, and sometimes just �methi� (fenugreek seeds,) but if these medicines failed to produce results, they would give us a small shot of cashew fenni at night. In addition, they would crush garlic flakes on a �fatorn� mix them with cashew fenni and apply the mixture to the stomach. The consumption of fenni by mouth and its application on the outside of the stomach did the trick and we would be fine by the next morning.
Cashew fenni was also used to treat asthma. The grass on the hills begins to die in September/October and this is when monitor lizards come out of their dwellings and get caught by the hunters. Besides making use of monitor lizards� skin for �gumttam & madhiim� and flesh to prepare xacuti, people used their blood for medicinal purposes as follows:
People who suffered from asthma bought monitor lizards from hunters, butchered them at home and collected blood in a container. They would immediately add cashew fenni to the blood, mix it thoroughly in the container and make the asthma patient drink it in a gulp. The process had to be repeated many times and, believe me, in those days many benefited from such treatment.
Here I remember one of the cashew fenni incidents that took place when I was about 12 years old. One of my friend�s family members had left for Salcete to attend a wedding leaving him alone at home. My friend who was also my age decided to celebrate that evening with cashew fenni but he consumed more than he could hold. When I visited him late in the evening, he had already vomited and the whole room smelled of cashew fenni. He told me how it had happened and I surely was very scared for him because he behaved as if he was going to die. So, I went and called the voizinn maim who came and checked him and said �bhienakai, taka thondd moddxi zalea� (don�t worry, he is suffering from indigestion due to severe cold.) Having said this, she asked if there was any cashew fenni in the house. Thinking that she wanted to apply the fenni to his body, I brought the bottle and gave it to her. She applied it to his back, ribs and stomach but she also filled a kals (cup), gave it to my friend and said �kals tondak lai ani ho soro pie ani titlean tuji thondd moddxi kabar zateli.� (Have this cup of fenni and that should take care of your pneumonia.) My friend�s eyes propped out and he looked at me as if to ask �what shall I do?� He was already tight but we didn�t want to reveal the fact to the voizinn fearing she might report it to his parents. Consuming more liquor would be like adding poison to his condition. Having no other alternative, he gulped down the contents of the kals and was flat within a short time. He again vomited after some time, at which the voizinn maim said �bhitor thondd aslem tem soglem bhair sorlem; atam bhirant nam� (all the cold from the inside has come out; there is no danger now!� Only the two of us knew what had happened and that it was not a case of pneumonia. Actually, as we know, it is difficult to hide cashew fenni smell from anyone, especially if somebody vomits after drinking cashew fenni, but the reason why the voizinn maim did not get the smell was because she herself had already consumed her daily cashew fenni quota just before she attended to my friend!
I grew up drinking cashew fenni and drank it until the early 1980�s. I don�t drink it now because I take my vacation in April/May and as I mentioned above, it is not a summer drink, but I drink urrak occasionally. The best thing that I still like to drink is �Nira.� During my last vacation, I made an arrangement with a woman from �Guddean,� Siolim, to bring me two liters of nira everyday. Our driver, who is from Tivim, would pick up nira bottles from the woman in the Mapusa market on his way to Anjuna. The nira was of very good quality and this was proved by the following fact: The bottle was kept in the refrigerator. Somebody noticed the lid was loose so it was tightened. When I opened the lid of the bottle, the contents shot out like champagne! I hardly got half a glass of nira out of the one liter bottle!
In the olden days, we got good quality cashew fenni from the Anjuna, Parra and Siolim hill distilleries but it is not so any longer. However, we still get good quality �urrak� and cashew fenni from �Morje� (Morjim), �Hormola� (Arambol) and probably the best urrak and cashew fenni comes from �Terefola� (Tiracol). In fact, the women from Terefola, Hormola and Morje have been bringing urrak and cashew fenni from these places to Anjuna since the 1950�s and they continue to do so till today. The only difference then and now is the transportation. Can you imagine a woman carrying a �matiecho kovso� (earthern pot) of fenni from Tiracol and walking her way to Anjuna?
Speaking of Tiracol, I had visited the place and the fort there in the 1960�s. Last vacation, I decided to visit it again. We traveled from Anjuna to Morjim by crossing the new bridge, and then we traveled by the shore crossing first Morjim beach, then Arambol beach, followed by Querim and finally Tiracol beach and the fort.
Whatever wild fruits I had missed on the Anjuna hill, I was able to get them from the hills of Morjim, Arambol, Querim and Tiracol. While we traveled, every now and then the aroma of a cashew distillery captured my attention and I visited a few in order to get Nira but in vain because Nira is available only in the late evening. While we waited to cross the ferry from Querim to Tiracol, we saw fishermen cast their nets in the river and catch good fishes. You can buy fish from them and give it to small restaurants there and ask them to prepare it for you by the time you return from Tiracol. We were about to do that but a big group of people got to them before we could and they bought all the fish from them and gave it to a restaurant for preparation.
The Tiracol fort today is completely different from the one I saw in the sixties. It is now totally renovated and is given on hire to an entrepreneur to run as a 5-Star hotel. The charges are Rs.4,500.00+ for a double room. They have a good restaurant but I always prefer to go to an inexpensive hotel because it is there that you find the real Goan cuisine. So, we came down the hill and entered one of the shacks on our way to the ferry. We gave our order for seafood � fish curry and rice, fresh salad and special dishes of tiger prawns, whole fried chonnkul, xinanneo, and stuffed Bangdda. While we waited for the food, my family and nephew ordered soft drinks for themselves and I ordered Urrak with Limca for me. I tasted the urrak before mixing it with Limca and believe me the stuff was pure! I finally had good urrak after a long time. I wouldn�t have gotten this quality of urrak in a 5-Star hotel at the Tiracol fort even if it was available there. Actually, pure urrak and fenny is exported from the above mentioned places to other parts of Goa but the retailers adulterate them.
The main cashew crop season in Goa is from March to May and it also happens to be the season for Kannt�tam and Churnam. Therefore, whenever we went for Kannt�tam and Churnam on the hill, we would sometimes be raided by cajkars. They would stop us and check our bags to make sure that we did not steal any cashew seeds.
CASHEW LEAVES (CAJICHIM PANAM)
In the 1950�s and 1960�s, most people did not use toothbrushes and paste. The only toothbrush-cum-paste that was easily and abundantly available was natural leaves. Nowadays, three types of brushes are available for sale � hard, medium and soft. We, too, mainly had three types of leaves which corresponded with the present types of brushes and which are as follows:
Hard brush � Mango tree leaf Medium brush � Cashew tree leaf Soft brush � Guava tree leaf
Since my house is located at the foot of a hill, I was privileged to have all three types of brush-cum-pastes in our compound and I would make use of each one of them every alternate day but I mostly used cashew tree leaves which I considered as a medium brush. I would pluck one of the leaves from the tree, fold it in the middle, remove the stem, turn it into a roll and brush my teeth until the roll was worn out. I did not buy any toothbrush or paste until the age of 14. Do I regret it? Not at all! By the grace of God, my 32 teeth are still intact without a speck, thanks to the presence of chlorophyll in leaves which helped people of my generation maintain their teeth without much problem.
CASHEW LEAF PLATES (CAJICHEA PANANCHEO BOXEO)
Cashew leaves are also used as �Protralleo� - the oldest form of plates used by Goans since time immemorial, and they are still in use with the Hindu community in Goa; they use them to serve food at every religious ceremony as well as at wedding functions. During our childhood, we saw many Hindus sit and weave these plates as they were much in demand then. Potralleo makers would go up the hill, pluck fresh leaves from cashew trees, place them in a gunny bag and bring them home. They would then dip them in a container of water to wash away the dirt and begin to fasten them together with pieces of �ir� (hard part of stalk of palm leaf.) Nowadays, we use disposable paper plates but in those days, everyone used potralleo which were also disposable; they were sold by the hundreds. As far as Christians are concerned, and as far as my knowledge goes, potralleo were used and are still used for �bhikareanchea jevnnank� (a meal offered for beggars) which takes place one week prior to a wedding ceremony.
MONSOON PROVISION OF DRY CASHEW LEAVES (CAJICHEA SUKEA FOLIEANCHO PAVSAK BONDABOST)
In the past, people had to make all sorts of provisions to survive the monsoon season and �sukeo cajicheo folieo� (dry cashew leaves) was one of them. In the beginning of May, people would gather dry cashew leaves and fill them in a �zabl�lo� (a large expandable net type bag made of coir,) and store the �zabl�le� in a firewood store. People preferred cashew leaves as a monsoon provision because of their flatness � it enabled them to pack more leaves in layers in a zabl�lo. Cashew leaves also catch fire easily and produce a strong fire. During the monsoon, as soon as people woke up, they would go to the firewood store, take a handful of �folieo,� place them in the �chul� and light them with a match stick. As soon as the leaves caught fire, some �xirput�tam� would be added and that would get the fire going.
Having a house at the foot of a hill is good as well as bad. Good because you are surrounded by nature and bad because you have too many things to do in preparation of the monsoon season. Since my house is at the foot of a hill, one of the yearly jobs that we were required to do was to clear fallen dry leaves mostly from cashew trees from a deep �vhall� (gutter) about 8 feet high and more than 150 meters long. If we didn�t clear the leaves, the rain water would carry them and block the passage at the little bridge under the road resulting in clogging and collapse of the property wall. The bridge was rebuilt in 1970 and now has a wider opening underneath which allows folieo to pass through it easily. We would mostly stand on the walls of the gutter with our feet apart and gather leaves with a �dantro� (rake) or make use of a solid bamboo stick to push the layers of leaves. We would be bitten every now and then by �umle� (red-ants.) We had to be courageous as we had to face all types of �pali� (small lizards,) �xirle� (chameleons) �vinchu� (scorpions,) �vagonni� (centipedes,) �kottarli� (millipedes,) �vanni� (spiders) and �sorop� (snakes) which we did not kill but allowed them to escape. I mostly made use of gumboots when at this job in order to avoid any accidental bites. We were rewarded for the job. We would find lots of fallen cashew seeds but the best find was �kansov� (tortoise.) We would find many of both types � �tupo kansov� (the ones that usually live in water) ani �zod�do kansov� (wild tortoise.) We would make good xacuti of �tupe kansov� with plenty of �katlecheo tepxeo� (coconut bits) in it and distribute �zod�de kansov� to those who ate them. We would fill several zabl�le with dry cashew leaves and transport them to our fields through a hired person who would empty each zabl�lo in the middle of a �fod�d� (one of many squares prepared in the fields.) Even I carried zabl�le filled with leaves to our field; there is so shame in doing such work! At the end of the day, we would go to the field and set fire to dry leaves. People who followed this process reaped a better paddy harvest than the others. So, it was worth the trouble!
GUM FROM CASHEW TREE (CAJICHEM GONDD)
During our childhood, most everything was obtained through natural methods and gum was not an exception. We needed a lot of gum for our craft work, etc., at school. The gum bought from Messrs. Bhobe or Coulekar Bookstores in Mapusa cost money but it was not very effective. So, we would make our own gum. Although gum was available from many types of trees, the best gum came from cashew trees. The gum usually oozes from the cracks on a trunk of a tree, dries up and hangs on the bark like molten wax. We would gather sufficient strips of dried gum from cashew trees, bring them home, break them into pieces, place them into an empty ink pot or any other empty bottle, add water and leave it there for at least two days and voila - within 48 hours we would have the best homemade gum which was much better than readymade! Once a year, we would prepare large quantities of cashew gum in the middle of December in order to use it to make Christmas stars.
CAJINIM VO CAJI PONDAK MOG (LOVE IN CASHEW TREES OR LOVE UNDER A CASHEW TREE)
Nowadays falling in love is so common that even small school going children have boyfriends and girlfriends which was not the case in the 1950�s and 1960�s. I am not saying people didn�t fall in love then but it was not as easy as it is today. Each one�s home was a paradise for himself/herself � everything revolved around homes and neighbors. So, obviously, even lovers mostly happened to be neighbors. It is very important for lovers to meet each other as often as they can but since in those days there was hardly any transportation available, it was almost impossible for them to travel and meet beyond the perimeter of their neighborhood. Thus, the question of dating hardly arose. To meet in a friend�s or relative�s house was not possible as the elders would not accept such behavior and would definitely report the meeting to parents �ani magir, zalo mogacho fog� (and then love turns into a fire!) Unlike today, there were hardly any hotels available where one could book a room and share some private moments away from the home crowd and neighbors. The only meeting place the lovers could think of then, was a hill where nobody would be around unless it was the cashew crop season. So, they would climb up the hill from two different directions and meet under a cashew tree. In those days such meetings came to be known as: �Cajinim mog vo caji pondak mog� (love in cashew trees or love under a cashew tree.�
Cashew tree wood is quite tough but it is of no commercial use due to its limited growth. It is however used as firewood. Because of its toughness it burns slowly and produces a strong fire. In the olden days �cajichim xirput�tam� (dried branches of a cashew tree) were preferred over xirput�tam from other trees for daily firewood, especially during the monsoon.
We have lost many of our cashew trees since I have been away in the Gulf. I intend to replenish them as soon as I leave this place for good. It is one of those retirement projects waiting for me to be carried out!
That�s all for now from Dom�s antique shelf!
Moi-mogan, Domnic Fernandes Anjuna/Dhahran, KSA
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