Can He Take The Monsoons With Him?

(1) Vasco da Gama, the trader from Portugal landed at Beypore port to purchase black peppercorns thousands of pounds in exchange for fabrics, gold, brass, sugar, oil and honey. Godowns of Beypore emptied of pepper his ships loaded to the hilt. da Gama wished to visit the large farmlands on the slopes of the Hills where peppervines grew in abundance, the lush green vines healthy climbing on the trees lining the fertile slopes of Wayanad, he could not take his eyes off. He took many thousands of vine-cuttings to plant them on plains of Alto Alentejo, and on the banks of River Tagus. The farmers feared that if he grew peppervines in Portugal, they would lose the large lucrative European market, so did the traders of Beypore; together they approached their King Saamoothiri of Kozhikode with the story. The king was unconcerned, "let him carry the peppervines, but can he take our monsoon with him? " he laughed, the audience perplexed. (2) Peppervines grow healthy and produce yield abundant in the temperate climate of the hills and plains of Malabar. Pepper flowers are pollinated not by birds, insects or bees but by water envelopeing them of the abundant monsoon rains. Unless pollinated correctly the flowers on the pepper-spikes will not grow into pungent reds that hold the markets captive; if it does not rain abundantly during the flowering season to pollinate the pepper flowers, the vines will give little yield. The Saamoothiri knew this well and could not contain his mirth at the ignorance of his own citizens but, of da Gama the explorer too. Words and places: 1) Kozhikode: (or Calicut) was a country-state in Malabar ruled by kings with the title "Saamoothiri". The kingdom consisted of the present Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram and Kannur (and parts of Palakkad and Thrissur) districts of Kerala State, India. 2) Wayanad: The Hills in the erstwhile Country-State of Kozhikode. Now a district in Kerala 3) the Hills: The Wayanad Hills 4) Alentejo: a region of south-central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means 'beyond (além) the Tagus river' (Tejo) . Alto (upper) Alentejo Province is part of Alentejo region. 5) pungent reds: the individual pepper drupe (tiny, just three or four mm in diameter) aesthetically arranged on the spike, is green until it is ripe and red when ripe. The outer green or red thin flesh turns black when dried. Hence called black pepper. The inner "stone" containing one pungent seed is white. So, the de-skinned pepper is white pepper. 6) ‘markets': European markets. Even today. 7) pollination/ pollinate: a reference to botany.