Because the “good banana” salesman was out to lunch (with bananas left unattended on the cardboard boxes that constituted his stall), my friend’s housekeeper had gone back of his own accord to buy the good bananas. I was brought some. These bananas are rich, custardy, and have an after aroma of passionfruit. When I told a colleague how incredibly sweet they were while showing her this photo, her reaction was that they were “so small and ugly.” My response to her was that many of us are small and ugly on the outside but sweet on the inside.
Bangladesh is rich in small acts of kindness.
Clever
Those same, small, ugly bananas are highly prized in India, where they are affectionately called “elaichi”s (“EL-AYE-CHI”), meaning, literally, “cardamom”s, in an obvious reference to the shape of the cardamom pod.
You write evocatively. Keep ’em coming. And see you hopefully in the New Year.
Thank you for the encouragement. Maybe it was a scent of cardamom in the bananas?