Kafal is one
of many extremely delicious wild fruits found in Uttarakhand. The fruit looks
somewhat like deep-red colored raspberries. They barely have any pulp have a
big round seed in the center.
This seasonal fruit ripens during the months of May and June and is preferred by most of the people like kafal for its sweetness and also its tangy flavor. The fruit having a limited harvesting period and available for a short period of time only. When kafal is in season, local villagers pick and gather the berries carefully from the wild growing areas and transport to town in baskets (daalo). People love to eat the fruit with sprinkling of salt or rock salt and chili powder and it is a popular treat in the beginning of the summer months.
There are ample number of stories related to kafal . One
such story is about a woman who plucked a basketful of kafal fruits from the
nearby forest and brought them home. The scorching summer heat had parched her
throat. She asked her beautiful daughter for water. But there was no water at
home. So the woman went to the spring nearby to quench her thirst and asked her
daughter to watch over the basket, giving strict instructions not to eat the
fruits. When she returned, the fruits looked fewer. Not realizing that the
fruits had shrunk because of loss of water, the woman slapped her daughter
hard. The girl died on the spot and turned into a cuckoo. Ever since, every
year in May and early June, the cuckoo sings, “kafal pako min nee chakho (kafal
has ripened, but I have not tasted it yet)”.
The popularity
of the wild fruit is also reflected in a song famous in Uttarakhand: “Bedu pako
baarah maasa, narayni kafal pako chait (bedu ripens every month, but kafal only
in April-May)”.
