Fresh Coconuts, Boon or Bane?

"Fresh Coconuts? Too cooling an effect. It'll give you body aches."

The lady on the next couch looked a little youngish to be dishing out this ancient line. Then again, I've been proven wrong on a couple of counts. Take that time about twenty years ago when I was shopping for some dried perishables at the Petanak Market. I was in my late thirties and not looking the part of a respectable Homemaker. (A respectable Homemaker, if you must know, is one who carried out their affairs in a concise confident manner. She dips her fingers into the perishables and knew at once how much its worth. She lifts the gills of fishes and knew how long its been out of the water.)

The trouble with perishables like dried shrimp, for instance, is that all of them looked suspiciously ambiguous. Well meaning shoppers will tell you to buy the pink whole pieces because they're fresher while others will tell you those are tainted with food colouring and you gotta go for the broken pieces which are healthier. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to these perishables so I usually went with the cunning plan, which is to tail someone who looked like a respectable Homemaker and buy whatever she bought.

So there I was vexing over some dried stuffs in the gunny sacks at the Petanak Market. Rendered immobile by indecision, I stood there looking at the stuff while my mind debated over the issue. Viola! Along came this ancient looking thing who looked every bit the respectable Homemaker. She was well-dressed and in her fifties and she had two fingers sticking into the perishables. Ahah, I thought. Once again, I'll take the cunning way out. I'll buy the stuff if she buys it. Trying to look the part I dipped my fingers into other perishables in the next gunny sack. Consider my surprise when the respectable Homemaker turned to me and asked "Are these fresh? Should I buy them?"

So Age is not usually synonymous with shrewdness. I suppose Exposure enters the equation at some point and besides, some people are born sharper than the rest. In any case, if the youngish looking smarty pants on the next couch thought that fresh coconuts will give you body aches, I should take heed.

Laying off the fresh coconuts were the first thing I did right. There weren't any diarrhoea this time. The gastric was within control and what do you know? The smarty pants was right about the body aches.