Lovely Lemons - by Gynelle Alves

 

When I think of lemons and life giving you lemons as I sometimes do, I think of a certain grey miserable rainy day outside Lower Parel station when the weight of the world rested unevenly on my shoulders making my neck hurt. The day was grey, the mood was grey, the milling, oppressive crowd was grey… And then, cutting through the heavy drone of the faceless masses came a tinkling, that unmistakable scraping of metal on corrugated glass and I looked up and there, in the murky, morning on the nimboo-pani wala’s cart, were a pile of tenacious balls of brilliant yellow, like sunshine, looking my way like secret agent smiley faces. Did someone say ‘make lemonade’?

Lemons may not be glamorous fruit, their season yearned and waited for, special rituals and recipes collected in anticipation of their harvest. Nope, they are always there, just hanging about – tied up with a couple of chilies to thwart the evil eye, occasionally used instead of change for a fiver with the ginger and chilies. But these little yellow buggers can brighten up just about any dang thing.

Over the years they’ve changed in size, shape and texture. The tart, thin-skinned green limes of old have given way to larger, yellow fruit that are not quite as big and subtle as the lemons you can buy abroad but have a pleasing zest and reliably juicy. Always around, homely and lovely-lemony as they are, these recipes can also be all dollied up for company quite easily.