THE FRUIT BASKET ;)

Washington apples, fresh green grapes, ratnagiri cha haapus, and mahabaleshwar strawberrys, all laid so pettily in the yellow fruit basket on my dining table.  I finished my lunch after college and had the urge to sleep for a while. A glaring green bunch of grapes seemed like they said “ yeah, I am the best of the lot”, we are the one you will relish the most.” I responded by saying “Maa I want some of the grapes, wash them for me” I ate the first grape and it was unpleasant. The second too and the third as well. And indeed the grapes were sour!

It is often said, a man is known by the company he keeps. Isn’t it strange that it applied in fruit philosophy as well?

The fruit basket looked like all the populace in college to me. The apples- foreigners, the mangoes-spoilt rich brats, the grapes- the oh so cool group, the strawberry’s- a group of stupid blondes, the oranges- the double meaning talkers and the solitary pineapple- a friend.

Pineapples are rare. They are different. They are unique. That is why they are so hard on the outside and so sweet in the inside, just like a friend.

I have a story to share. Readers might feel I have something against grapes, I don’t, I rather like them when they are sweet, but the story will explain why

I was rather intrigued by this group of people in college. They seemed nice, sweet, cheerful decent people. I liked being with them, hanging out with them, being a part of them. But one day they turned sour, bad and mean. We stopped hanging out. now usually passer bys at home, might just pop a few grapes into ones mouth on passing by the fruit basket. Now you will wonder what is the correlation.. Soon after I had, stopped hanging out with them, a few others started hanging out with them., in context. A few others had popped in the sour grapes into their mouth. A few days later, they again felt that the combination of grapes and strawberries doesn’t sound right. And they decided to sour some other people’s mouth

They soured my mouth, when they rotted. Like fruits, with time, wrong people in turn tend to show their true colors, or rather tastes.

The fruit basket taught me lots. It taught me to be with people I know, I love and I am concerned about. Knowing new people is good. It’s great. But trusting them and being vulnerable in their company is not a good idea.

College is indeed a fruit basket, and all fruits don’t taste right, but judging any group of people or person without knowing them is wrong. Its is absolutely unscrupulous. I have learned to love life. to experience and to be strong because of college. It has made me a new person. I am not the open book I was. I am maybe the index now. I am not the school girl now. I am the new college girl. I am a more responsible, priority giver, mentally balanced girl, I am independent of my transportation and my my academic capabalities.

I am a new fruit, my mom got from the market. Because the grapes decayed anyways.