Mr. Victor Hugo Gomes has very beautifully and vividly narrated the different processes of the coconut tree, I would like to add some of my knowledge to it as well.
The coconut tree no doubt in the back bone of the existence of costal Goa, more so then than now. It's been used in a good number of ways like Victor mentioned but that are some aspects that I would like to let people know from my experience. A coconut takes around one year to ripen from the time it's shoot appears in between the palm leaves, it first appears as the "poim" which appears like a miniature canoe , this "poim" is tapped by the toddy tapper, which than through a process lactates toddy, when not tapped, this "poim" is forced open by the "xevok" that has tentacles called "xel" attached to it's stalk and these tentacles have coconuts attached to it, it so mostly happens that more the coconuts attached to the tentacles of the "xevok" the smaller seems to be the size of the coconuts, the average is, big coconut will be less that seven or eight and the small ones could be even more than a hundred, there was one such "xevok" taken from a land lord from our village for an agricultural exhibition and was told that the total numbers of coconuts was 180 to be precise, one tentacle had a minimum of nine coconuts, of the size of a "musrad" mango, the "paddekar" could not bring it down with him so he had asked for a rope to lower it down, it sounds absurd but true. The "kanddum" used by the "paddekar" around his ankles to climb was mostly made from the bark (vaiyo) of the "combbio" tree the importance of this particular fiber was that it did not slip off the trunk of the coconut trees, now a days I have seen "paddekar" use "kanddum" made of coir (sumba palim), the durability may be better but safety could be a problem. Earlier we use to do the "paddo" after every three months, so that would be, four times a year, and those "paddekars" were good and experienced and rarely made mistakes, but today the few younger ones, leave the ripe one and cut the raw ones down, so we are forced to pluck coconuts every two months, during the three months "paddeponn" the "paddekar" would easily cut "xevkams" from three side and every thing would be fine for the next three months, but now every two months they cut two "xevkams", and a few weeks later, we notice that some of the coconuts are already dried up and ready for plucking. This the situation with the "paddekars" at the moment, but can we complain ? If you do than next time they don't come for the plucking. I'll like to share one secret, the best tender coconut to enjoy is the one on the "Xevok" over the dry coconuts, no jokes, it's true, you'll can try it. Coming to the de-husking of the coconut, it's a professional's job, for an amateur it could be very serious injury or even death, as the tool of the "solpi" is called a "kumbdo" a short spear with a very sharp tip and sides, a good portion of this "kumbdo" is buried in the ground rock steady slightly tilted towards the "solpi", the "solpi" then places the coconut one side slightly buried in the tip of the "kumbdo", and places his left leg pegged back straight while the right leg is bent at right angle and placed under the coconut and pushed with minimum force down the knee and the side of the husk comes out, the position of the bent leg is of very vital importance, he continues the same process on all side till the cover is cleared out, coconuts usually has three sides or sometimes round, if the three sides are very obvious the husk will most certainly be thicker, the round ones will have a thinner husk. A good "solpi" can clear anything around 1800 -2000 coconuts a day, the bigger ones are easier and small ones are a bit difficult and they are paid per hundred. When the "kumbdo" is lying idle the "solpi" will always make sure that he puts a portion of the detached husk, smooth portion on the out side on top of the "kumbdo" to avoid accidents. The "tizpi" usually come after the de-husking and segregates as per size of the size of the coconut and then packes in sacks, there normally packed in sacks of 90 per sack (novodd bortecho), 100 per sack (xembor bortecho), 120 per sack (ekxem vis bortecho) and the last 180 per sack (ekxem oixim bortecho), the less the amount of coconuts in the sack the higher the price of coconuts. Mog asum Freddy Agnelo Fernandes -------------------------------------------------------- The content of this electronic communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed and any others who are specifically authorized to receive it. It may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or otherwise placing reliance on the contents of this information is prohibited and may be unlawful in certain legal jurisdictions. If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately by responding to this email and then delete it from your system. -------------------------------------------------------- ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. 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