Bolangir: As temperature soars in Bolangir, selling tender palm fruits also known as ‘ice apple’ has turned into a hot business for locals. Equally enthused are customers who throng these shops to get a bite of their favourite seasonal fruit.
A number of vendors can be seen selling ice apples by the sides of Bolangir-Patnagarh State Highway no-42 near Bhainsha village. Customers barely manage to resist the temptation to taste these cool, juicy and fleshy fruits in scorching Bolangir heat. While the ice apple vendors are raking in bucks, people are seen relishing the translucent and pale white flesh of these fruits.
Earlier, there used to be two to three ice apple vendors in Bhainsha. However, their numbers have gone up with the demand for this nature’s gift increasing year after year.
Fakir Podh of this village is one of those old and successful ice apple vendors in the area who opens his makeshift shop by the side of Patnagarh-Bolangir highway every summer.
“Ice apples are available from the first week of the month of April, and all through the month of May. However, 15 to 20 days of peak summer give us a good business each year. During this period, I earn anything between Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000,” says Fakir.
Even though he has his own palm trees in his backyard, they are often not able to meet the skyrocketing demand. He collects these fruits from neighbours early in the morning – most of the times. In return, he pays them a portion of his earnings. There are some who do not charge him anything at all. He only has to pay the men who pluck the fruits for him.
His business starts as early as 9:00am to catch the early customers. His wife Madhavi and college going son Mukesh often help him run the shop during peak hours. At times his cousin Raghumani Podh also joins them.
“We sit till afternoon. If couple of hours of seating under scorching sun gives us a good return, hardship is no issue at all,” observes Fakir as he attends to his customers. “Whatever I earn is enough to see me through this nonagricultural season,” he boasts.
Nowadays, four wheelers are also seen parked at these vendors.
“The outer cover is gelatinous. Inside the gelatinous pod there is little sugary coconut water like refreshing water. If compared, there is no such fruit water that beats it in taste,” says a town resident who often comes driving to Fakir to relish ice apple. He further adds, “These hot days, I never forget to gulp down 30 to 40 ice apples as the fruit is a rich source of antioxidants, dietary fiber, vitamin A, vitamin C and B complex, and not to mention minerals like zinc, iron and potassium.”
Since last few years, with growing popularity, vendors such as Fakir are also seen opening their shops at Shankarbhoji village on Bolangir-Bargarh National Highway no-26.
PNN