Kaphal - Kafal Pakko, meil ni chakkho
Kaphal pakko, meil ni chakkho (Kaphal has ripened, but I have not yet tasted the same) is the pathetic explanation of a little girl who died of severe beating by her mother. The story goes that once a Woman picked up Kaphals from the Kaphal tree. After toiling hard for the whole day, she could pick up a basket-full of Kaphals. At home she asked her daughter to look after the Kaphal basket and not to eat Kaphal. The little girl kept a strict vigil on the basket and slept for a while. When her mother reached home, she observed that the basket of Kaphal has lost some weight. She suspected that the little girl must have eaten away the Kaphals. In fact she wanted to sell the Kaphals next day to cater to the daily needs of the house. But when she felt that the Kaphals were eaten away by her daughter, she gave her a severe beating. The girl was continuously crying and was saying that the she had not tasted the Kaphals. Due to excessive beating the girl died. It was the month of May. In fact due to the scorching heat of the summer the Kaphals had dried up, hence the basket full of Kaphals lost weight. But in the afternoon there was a severe downpour and the Kaphals became juicy once again. The mother observed that the Kaphal basket had once again regained weight. Kaphals had become juicy due to rains. She repented, but the little girl had expired. After her death she took birth as a bird Magpie. After her birth as a Magpie the bird chatters, Kaphal Pakko, meil ni chakkho. People of the hills instinctively receive the pathetic message which the bird delivers through her above song and remember the little girl.
Yet another story says that a young bride says to her mother-in-law: "O! My mother-in-law Kaphal has ripened. Burdened by the unending cycle of reaping, winnowing, sowing, weeding, wood cutting and fetching water from long distance, shall I ever have enough of leisure to taste Kaphals in the jungle while traversing the trail that leads to my mother's home?" So sang a Kumaoni bride ages back and trapped in a vicious circle of hard life when she lost her life untimely, she became a Magpie, a beautiful bird who, when the Kaphal ripens in Himalayan jungles in the month of May and June often sings, "Kaphal pakko, meil ni chakkho" (kaphal has ripened but I couldn't taste it yet).
A small poem on Kaphal reads:
The 'kaphal' fruit is ripe Come dear friend - Let us go to the forest To eat the fruit of the 'kaphal' bush The leaves of the Oak tree have turned green There is water in the roots of the Oak. Come, quench your thirst.
A myth associated about Kaphal is that during the 14 year exile of Lord Rama, Sita tasted this fruit while in the forest. Since then Kaphal is also called the 'Gauri Phal'
Kaphal, Kafal or Kaiphal (Myrica Esculenta) is a sub-temperate moderate-sized ever green tree varying from 3 to 15 Metre from place to place is found throughout the mid-Himalayas, between heights of 900 metre to 2,100 metre above sea level. The tree yields a fruit of the cherry size are reddish or cheese coloured when ripe and is one of the tastiest wild fruits of the sub-Himalayan region. It is a wonder fruit with high medicinal value. The fruits are edible. They are considered pectoral, sedative, stomachic and carminative. They have pleasant sourish sweet taste and used in preparing refreshing drink. The fruits are eaten raw not only in India but in China, Japan and Europe as well. It is a small fruit with a bigger seed than the part that matters. You can eat it all day long (or till your tongue goes sore) as it does no harm and actually. Kaphal helps your digestive system.
The bark of Kaphal is said to possess many medicinal properties. It is heat stimulating and useful in catarrhal fever, cough and in the affections of the throat. Oil prepared from it is dropped into ears. The small, seedy fruits are sweet, with a pleasant blend of acid. They are very attractive. The overall fruit quality is excellent. It normally yields 15 to 25 Kg. Kaphals per tree depending upon the size of the tree. The small seedy fruits of Kaphal are very much liked by all for their taste and juiciness. With the onset of summer, the Kaphal starts ripening and the villagers start picking the Kaphals from the forests and sell it in towns. Sometimes they have to face the wrath of the Forest Guards, who however normally lets them go in exchange for a pocket full of Kaphals. In the adjoining towns, the fruits easily sell @ 40 to 50 rupees a kg. Every year the fruit of this tree, worth thousands of rupees, is sold in towns. It is a good source of extra income for the villagers, which in peak season fetches 200 to 250 per day or so. The major problem in the case of this fruit is that the harvesting period is too long and fruits from a single tree have to be harvested in many pickings. However, this is the only cost involved in the case of this fruit as there are numerous trees bearing which are growing wild in the forests. This cost can, therefore, be overlooked. Yet another problem is that the harvest from the Kaphals tree is not the same every year. It is dependant upon good rains. If it rains at the time of ripening, the fruit becomes juicy but if it does not rain the juicy content is lost. In any case the Kaphal gives some sort of employment to the villagers at least for 2-3 months.
The fruits, unfortunately, are not good keepers and their shelf-life does not exceed 2-3 days. As already mentioned under chemical composition, these fruits are fairly juicy and the percentage of extractable juice is about 40 per cent. The juice has a very attractive sparkling red colour. If the juice of Kaphal is prepared it would be an additional source of income for the people. Further it has medicinal properties especially in Ayurveda. Uttarakhand Government should make efforts to standardize a technique for its utilization.
To finish the article, I would like to relate an interesting story of a tourist about Kaphal sometimes jokingly narrated by the people. A tourist coming from the plains asks the Kaphal selling boy - Ye ka phal hai? (What’s this fruit?) The Kaphal seller boy said ye Kaphal hai. (This is Kaphal). He again put the same question, ye ka phal hai, the reply was again - ye kaphal hai. Humiliated tourist again asked strictly-Ye Ka Phal hai? The cool reply again was Ye Kaphal hai. Hot talks between the got converted in to a squabble. The matter ended when someone intervened and told the tourist that the name of this fruit is Kaphal and the tourist and the kaphal boy both started smiling.
