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Render (Local term in Goa for the one who plucks coconuts by profession)
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I had never really thought about how coconuts were plucked from those tall breezy palms. Until that day on the beach when I realized that you didn’t necessarily have to join the gym to have six-pack abs.
‘Where does your father work?’ I asked Jenny, a newly made acquaintance.
‘He sells fish in the market on weekdays.’ She replied, pouring sand from her fists.
‘And the weekends?’ I prodded.
‘He’s a part-time render.’
‘Oh.’
There was a minute of silence. I didn’t exactly know if Jenny knew that I hadn’t understood what a render was.
‘My father plucks coconuts.’
‘Really?’
‘That’s what renders do, stupid.’
She told me a render had to be as nimble as a scuttling spider to climb along the slender length of the coconut tree. They placed their feet in the notches carved into the tree’s trunk and reached all the way to the bunch of green coconuts amongst the leaves.
‘Don’t they fear falling?’
‘The coconuts? They are lowered to the ground with a rope.’
‘The render?’
‘Spiders can’t fall from coconut trees. Not after they’ve developed six-pack abs from climbing palms. ’
I laughed.
The next time I visited Goa, I never again bargained with the coconut vendors – I felt too guilty paying less money when a somewhere a render had performed a tree-climbing act that deserved a standing ovation.
‘Where does your father work?’ I asked Jenny, a newly made acquaintance.
‘He sells fish in the market on weekdays.’ She replied, pouring sand from her fists.
‘And the weekends?’ I prodded.
‘He’s a part-time render.’
‘Oh.’
There was a minute of silence. I didn’t exactly know if Jenny knew that I hadn’t understood what a render was.
‘My father plucks coconuts.’
‘Really?’
‘That’s what renders do, stupid.’
She told me a render had to be as nimble as a scuttling spider to climb along the slender length of the coconut tree. They placed their feet in the notches carved into the tree’s trunk and reached all the way to the bunch of green coconuts amongst the leaves.
‘Don’t they fear falling?’
‘The coconuts? They are lowered to the ground with a rope.’
‘The render?’
‘Spiders can’t fall from coconut trees. Not after they’ve developed six-pack abs from climbing palms. ’
I laughed.
The next time I visited Goa, I never again bargained with the coconut vendors – I felt too guilty paying less money when a somewhere a render had performed a tree-climbing act that deserved a standing ovation.
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