Ready to eat ?

My blogger friend from Kerala, Shail Mohan, first posted a wonderful closeup of Avial, the famous Kerala vegetable preparation, and then she followed it up with this wonderful capture of a plantain leaf, just right for picking. These were posted as part of the 365Project.org series , where she is participating.

Plantain leaves are  used for serving traditional meals on special occasions, and grown in gardens , since so many parts of the tree, like the fruits, the leaves, the flowers,  and even the stems  have great culinary value and utility.  Plantain trees kind of grow in groups , and you often see many new younger trees  around the older fruit laden mature ones.

Kind of gave me an  idea......

 (photo by Shail Mohan)

So many
crowded into a grove
in the garden.

Some mature ones with
a gaggle of kids hanging on.

Some younger
shorter ones,
growing alongside,
learning from the wet soil,
looking up
trying to emulate the elder sisters.

And some,
freshly unfurled
into adulthood,
bathed in an incessant rain,
shrugging off the drops,
faces scrubbed clean
and shining,
looking up to the Sun,
hoping
that the warmth
and the Gold
will attract
someone
who will come
and take her home
for a lovely meal of Avial and payasam.....