One afternoon while having tamarind (tetul) pickle with grandma and in conversation with her the tangy taste made reminiscent of her  childhood  as a little girl in the village, which was full of  tetul trees. A large tetul tree used to stand a small distance from our ancestral house, she recalled how in the afternoon post lunch in her words “ I with my friends would head for the tetul tree fully blooming with ripe sweet and tangy tetuls and  with all  resources at our  disposal such as sticks and stones would  bring some down, we were too small to climb such a large tree it was indeed incredible to have these tetuls with a pinch of salt compounded in  having them together with some standing and some sitting behind the same  tetul tree with fear of being discovered by parents and elders. All of us carried some home in our pallus  of our saree. The following day some of us narrated to one another how each of us were reprimanded for having the same in  palmfulls at odd hours.
The love for tetul never really subsided and as we grew up after certain years we discovered the ways of getting tetul from the trees during season, we could climb the trees now or pluck it down from the kitchen rack where it was stored by the family in bottles. We also discovered ways of making tetul tastier with a mixture of tetul with salt, molasses green chillies and little bit of water. The taste of this concoction was nothing but heavenly leaving us craving for more.

We grew further and the burden of studies and household work gave us little time as a result of extended school hours the ability of having the same in the manner we used to. Thanks to the ferriwala outside the school gates who compensated for the loss of our ability. He stood there every day and the joy of his slight with semi solid tetul mixture in packets was evident from our run towards him. We took as many possible and carried some of these packets  for having them after School food. The plastic packets continued to be wiped clean and in some cases ended up in our stomachs
 
Time passed us by, we were in college now but the custom for the delicacy continued unabated never loosing the taste. We were grown up now qualified and ready to join the work force which we did. We had more money and responsibilities our taste buds were matured but tetul continued to occupy the centre stage of our food mostly as part of our snacks and lunch. It was mostly fried foods accompanied with a great helping of the tetul chutney. The popularity of any stall or street vendor was the chutney and not the food really. We mostly enjoyed the bhelpuri  and crowded those  shops which used to top the mixture with a chutney made of tetul and khejur (dates) the taste was out of the world.
Tetul never left us really although my children were grown up now. The food for the family invariably contained tetul chutney and tetul  was also used as a taste enhancer in all  foods cooked.
My grandma looks at me sheepishly now and says, I will make your favourite hing kachuri with tetul chutney made from fermented  tetul . I look back at her with a smile and say its not my favourite. Please come to the side let me tell you in whisper, I love them really they are incredible at times although not consistent always.