During my last visit to Bombay, someone had given me a packet which contained badampak (which I happily consumed) and vasanu (which she gave me despite my protestations that it was too spicy even for the taste of a Parsi).
As a dutiful friend I carried the vasanu to New Jersey. But in the end I could not eat more than a small piece of it. What was I to do with the rest? Love and rupees had gone into the gift. Then a thought occurred to me. A natural experiment was possible in my own backyard, where deer roam and make their beds under my trees. I cut the vasanu into several pieces and placed them at various locations in my garden.
Read on:
The deer smelled something new
But eagerness turned to ‘phew’
"It’s well and good for the human
Who wants to compose a Haiku”
But indigestion follows vasanu.
Alas, it was too spicy even for the animals. The pieces sat where they had been placed for weeks, eventually dissolving into their native elements, washed by rain and dew.
Prof FAROK J. CONTRACTOR
New Jersey, USA
fjcontractor@embarqmail.com
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