Audible Weed Walk – ep.59 “Mahalaya & Cattail”
Rains from south-western monsoon for the whole of India are slowly coming to a stop and in Tamil Nadu north-eastern monsoon rains are just starting. We recently had Mahalaya – a celebration of the Indian lunar calendar. Different parts of India observe it differently but all across the no-moon night of Mahalaya Amavasya is taken as the time to remember and honor the ancestors. In Bengal it marks the beginning of 10-day long Durga puja. In reality these 10days like the season, are supposed to renew and rejuvenate ourselves. But this is not the time to eat a lot of greens. I have covered this aspect in my previous podcasts about what veggies are okay to eat or avoid in the rains and for how long. From the memories of Mahalaya and how it is celebrated in village in east Bengal that my mother remembers – I thought I will highlight some wild uncultivated plants: briefly the iconic white Saccharum spontaneum(kaash phool) and the cattail or hogla (Typha elephantine).