Massive date palm garden created to keep up heritage

COX'S BAZAR, Jan 12: A date palm garden has been set up along an extensive area by an individual in Khurushkul's Monopara, just two and a half kilometers away from Cox's Bazar town, with a view to retaining a waning heritage.

Sources said a tradition involving date palm juice and jaggery made out of it is on the wane in the rural Bengal with palm trees disappearing in a large number due to adverse weather conditions and touch of modernity.

The traditional date palm juice of rural Bengal is associated with the winter season. As winter sets in, the demand for date palm juice and jaggery comes along.

Various types of cake are made with this juice in every rural house. Raw juice is collected from trees and various types of jaggery are made by burning it on fire.

At one time, date palm juice and jaggery were very much in demand in rural areas. Today, date palm juice is not available much. Although there is some in rural areas, it is almost non-existent in cities.

Around 900 to 1,000 litres of date palm juice is collected from the garden in Monopara daily, which is boiled to prepare delicious jaggery.

Meanwhile, braving the cold weather, locals as wells as tourists flock to the garden every morning to buy and enjoy date palm juice and jaggery made out of it.

They taste raw date juice sitting under trees. Many of them bring bottles to take away parcels of the items for their families. Apart from drinking date juice, they also take pleasure strolling in the entire garden. A visit to the site found that activities start in the garden at 5am. Before 6am, sap is fully collected from the trees and boiled in a special tray. In the meantime, a crowd of people starts gathering. Especially young people riding motorcycles gather in a large number.

Along with them, many tourists are also seen.

About 300 people gather there every day. They drink hot date palm juice while standing in the garden. Many others eat it raw before it is boiled. Most of the people take it home in plastic bottles after drinking.

Many others buy delicious jaggery. Apart from this, the people who come there roam around the entire garden. They also spend their time taking pictures and chatting. The crowd to buy juice and jaggery in the date palm garden ends between 6am and 9am.

Saleh Ahmed, a resident of Kasturaghat area of Cox's Bazar town, established the date palm garden on 47 acres of land in 1995 after collecting date seeds from different countries.

He has been collecting juice from the date palm trees of the garden for more than 10 years. There are about 500 date palm trees in the garden. At least 10 to 12 skilled juice collectors are employed in the garden.

Fahmidul Hannan, a young man who came to buy date palm juice from the garden, said, "I came to the date palm garden with my friends on a motorcycle to drink juice. It is wonderful to see the date palm garden in a beautiful rural environment next to the town. This moment is very happy."

Samir Mallick, a tourist visiting Cox's Bazar, said, "I came to know about this date palm garden only after a day of visiting here.

This garden is really beautiful. It is a different feeling to sit under a tree in the morning fog and drink date palm juice."

Local resident Faiz Ahmed said that the owner of the garden is a nature lover. Because of him, today people of the town, especially the new generation, are seeing this date garden. In addition, they are able to taste the traditional date juice of rural Bengal. To sum up, it has become a favourite place for travelers.

Garden owner Saleh Ahmed said, "Our main objective is to maintain the tradition of rural Bengal; though initially, this garden was established with protection of environment in mind and to save natural beauty."

[email protected]