The better fare lies in wait, to soothe the heat and quench the parched palate. Herein at the foot of the stately groves is the nectar, drink of the gods, bounty of nature, with piquant taste and lingering tang, beckoning you to sit down on mother earth's green grass carpet and enjoy. The morning pot is ideally the nectar of the first water, scintillating with myriad colours of the jay's wing, bubbles popping like frisky shrimps, milky juice fresh, sizzling with a crest of white foaming froth. So tempting is its exotic taste that in the olden days certain choice palm groves were reserved exculsively for the royalty and the nobility of the times. Food tastes best at its source, so the saying goes.
Durians brings forth the true flavour when enjoyed in the plantations.
Toddy juice, in the same parlance tastes supreme in the palm grove, fresh, bubbling, in pristine form, not yet adulterated. Like-minded friends makes toddy tastes better. So with tentalizing teasers like roasted rabbit or fowl, fresh salad of onions, chilli and slices of lime, with the earthen pot taking the centre stage, it is really a revelry to remember. If he had tasted this nectar of the gods from our toddy grove, he might have eulogized them in his rubaiyats. Sages of the plains say that taken in moderation this heavenly nectar is a health giving and body strengthening drink for young and old.