DRUMSTICKS

 DRUMSTICKS

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

27/V/2024

 

The word ‘Moringa Oleifera’ or ‘Saijana ki Falli’ fascinates me. Some call them ‘Drumsticks’. The seed pods actually look like drumsticks. Though they are not as solid as real drumsticks.

The word ‘Moringa’ is derived from ‘Tamil’ called ‘Murungai’ or ‘twisted pod’. The fruit, when it is supple, green, and raw, is an important ingredient in many Indian dishes.

The medicinal value of this tree is well known. The leaves, raw pods and flowers are all edible. Even its roots resemble ‘radish’.

Our neighbours have been generous enough to let us pluck them. This morning, someone told us that if the leaves and flowers are added to ‘dahi-raita’, it makes an effective souring and flavouring agent. Moringa flowers and leaves can be dried and stored like we preserve ‘mint’ or ‘Kasuri methi’.  

Our maid makes a very tangy and tasty sabzi out of it. Many would have noticed, one cannot eat these pods whole. The traditional way is to chew on the fleshy part, suck the juices out and discard the veins, which can also be chewed to a pulp, like we chew sugarcane and chuck the residue away.

Last year, I started a ‘grow Moringa’ campaign in our colony.  Every sapling was taken. People who were away requested me to keep their plant till they returned. We as a family would repeat the same this year for the good of the environment and good health of people.

The length of each pod varies from a foot to almost two feet plus. The number of seeds within the pod also varies. The maximum I have counted is twenty seeds in a pod. That is a substantial number.

Ripe and dry pods hang on the tree ready to fall off. The fallen ones are swept away by the housekeeping staff. I thought of making use of them and germinating them again in nursery bags.

If you look at the pod closely, God has designed it so amazingly. As the fruit ripens and browns, cracks appear on the drumstick pod. The wind and friction amongst the pods when they hit each other, ease the splitting. Sometimes, the pod falls to hard ground and breaks open and sometimes the seeds disperse with the wind without the pod falling.

Drumstick seeds are covered with a translucent & papery membrane, as if they are wings, which help them glide in the air and take them where destiny desires them to fall.

As I was determined to collect a few pods and extract the seeds, there was another amazing work of nature which caught my eye. Each pod is ‘triangular’ and has a very ‘soft cushion’ inside. The pulp of the fruit on drying becomes a soft bed for the seeds, like our fairy tale princess sleeping on a hundred soft mattresses. No matter how hard the fall, the soft material does not let the seeds get damaged.

The pod takes the complete impact and splits open into three distinct pieces. The wings attached to the seed are also three sided. A perfect balance and safety feature of nature to save damage on impact. If the pod lands on a soft surface, it stays intact till nature disintegrates it. If it falls on a hard surface, dispersion happens automatically. Surprisingly, I have not seen birds eating its seed or if they have been picking on them, I haven’t noticed.

A full-grown tree can give hundreds of pods. If each pod can produce ten healthy seeds at an average, it means we can grow thousands of Drumstick trees. This doesn’t happen in real life.

I found this seed easiest to grow. One just has to shove it in mud. Even if there is no manure, it is bound to sprout. Once stable and has grown to about a foot in height, it can be transplanted to the ground with ease. Once the roots of the plant get bedded in, there is nothing which can stop it. Its water requirements are minimal.

The only minus of this tree is that it hardly provides shade and the number of leaves that fall make quite a mess. However, the pluses are so many. It is food and medicine for humans. Every part of the tree is edible. It provides nectar for the birds and the bees. Pollinators and insects love it. Birds love to perch on it and do shikar of insects which inhabit it. Above all, it adds greenery to the surroundings.

Friends, wish me luck and give my friends wisdom to look after the saplings we intend to distribute in the rainy season. By then they would be transplantable.

If out of hundred saplings even twenty survive, I would have done my bit. Isn’t it? I wonder!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

© ® NOEL ELLIS