Parvacha By Vyankatesh Madgulkar

Bor or the wild berries have been much experimented and the scientists have come forward with more yielding varieties of bor in the form of Umran, Kadaka and Elaichi. But, I would vouch that these do not taste like the original bor. They taste like a gherkin instead. The original bor has a typical taste and flavour. They are sweet and sour. The moment you try to take a bite their typical flavour brings tantalizing sensation. They are enough juicy with just enough core and a hard seed which you can keep on chewing at for a while. In pursuit of development, our farmers have lost so many excellent varieties. Their liking towards Japanese rice has made them forget the good old jirga variety of rice. A wonderful variety! Do we come across the variety of groundnut with its rugged surface and wrinkled nut inside? And the Mangalvedhi jowar and Khapalya wheat? Gulbhendi Hurda and Pundya Sugarcane? Those sweet, white sweet potato? Green gavran bajra? It seems that in the hubbub of Hybrid (or High Breed; one and the same) and high yielding we are going to miss out on our good, old, wonderful, special varieties.