Taste of Life: Juveniles of Reformatory School learn the joy of gardening

The Reformatory School located near the Central Prison at Yerawada was established in June 1889 with sixty boys, and most of them were employed in gardening

Pune: The effects of incarceration of children in nineteenth-century reformatories have been a topic of some interest. While some scholars have concluded that reformatories emphasised social controls that damaged children more than it helped, others have argued that it did provide genuine assistance to children who ran afoul of the law or those who were more nearly indigent than criminals.

The Reformatory School located near the Central Prison at Yerawada was established in June 1889 with sixty boys, and most of them were employed in gardening. (Getty Images (PIC FOR REPRESENTATION))

In September 1911, at the annual flower show of the Agri-Horticultural Society, Poona, the Reformatory School, Yerawada, exhibited many varieties of capsicums, tomatoes, custard apples, and pumpkins, and won first prize for the former two and third prize for the latter two. They had participated earlier on a couple of occasions but had not won any prize.

The young gardeners - children aged between fourteen and eighteen - were felicitated by the officials of the Agri-Horticultural Society. It was announced that the Society would give a donation to the Reformatory School as a gesture of appreciation.

The Reformatory School located near the Central Prison at Yerawada was established in June 1889 with sixty boys. Juvenile offenders, not belonging to the so-called “criminal tribes” identified by the British government, and belonging to cities as far as Amravati, Secunderabad, Karachi, and Kaira, were housed there. The number of children in the Reformatory increased yearly, with about three hundred children living there in 1910.

The goal of the Reformatory was to enable juvenile offenders to earn an honest livelihood by some sort of calling. Gardening, carpentry, blacksmithy, painting, tailoring, tinsmithry, and book-binding were taught to the children. Each endeavour was made to obtain work and keep them busy.

In 1902, it was decided to impart formal education to the children at the Reformatory. Classrooms were constructed and they were taught mathematics, science, and languages. The Reformatory was given twelve acres next to the Central Prison. About seven acres were ploughed and “jowar” was cultivated in the first two years after the establishment of the Reformatory. Three acres was reserved for the cultivation of various vegetables. Two water tanks were constructed with the help of the inmates of the Central Prison for the farm. The number of boys employed in gardening was much higher than in any other trade. An instructor provided by the agricultural department visited twice a week to teach horticulture. While gardening classes were held every day for those interested, the classes teaching horticulture were made compulsory for children aged sixteen and above.

Vegetables like potato, bottle gourd, ridge gourd, spinach, and fenugreek used in the reformatory kitchen were cultivated by the children. After the success of the annual flower show, the cultivation of tomatoes and pumpkins was encouraged. That year, red, Spanish and turban pumpkins were cultivated with seeds imported from Europe.

Pumpkins belong to Cucurbita pepo, C. maxima, and C. moschata species. Even though the C. pepo species are usually recognised as the true pumpkin, the maxima species contain varieties that produce pumpkin-like fruit. While the natives in Poona widely cultivated the maxima species in the late nineteenth century, several British horticulturists cultivated varieties of C. pepo and C. moschata in and around the city. Cucurbita lagenaria, the Benares pumpkin, locally known as “Kashiphal” or “Kashi bhopala” was also grown in gardens and sometimes on riverbanks. Cuculrbita alba, locally known as “kohala” bore a fruit larger than the red pumpkin. The flesh was white. It was never eaten raw but was much esteemed as a vegetable and was made into sweetmeats. The twentieth-century Poona saw many different kinds of pumpkins being cultivated, and these, together with melons, gourds, and butter apples, were the most curious representatives of the cucumber family.

Red pumpkin, a type of C.maxima, grew in great abundance in all parts of Deccan. It was generally sown at the commencement of the rains and required no particular care. When young, about the size of a goose egg, if cut and boiled, it would be found to resemble the artichoke-bottom dressed in the same way.

Growing monster red pumpkins was a very interesting and profitable amusement for the Europeans in Poona, and as large a fruit might be grown within the limits of a soldier’s garden as in any other. At the end of the summer, several cartloads of well-rotted horse litter were procured. It was laid up in a heap to ferment. The heap was watered daily, and at the end of a week, it was turned over and watered well again. This process was continued for six weeks. By this time the heap would be greatly reduced in size and moist. The ground was dug thoroughly a foot deep in the meanwhile, and when the manure was ready, a six-inch thick layer was spread in it. About the middle of the rainy season, several seeds were planted in patches a few feet apart and watered daily. Flowers would soon appear – the few of the first were picked off to allow the plant to gain strength. These flowers were usually given to native gardeners or housekeepers and cooks who cooked pumpkin flower fritters. When the fruit began to form, all other flowers that appeared were picked off. Clean dry hay was placed underneath the fruit and a shade over it to keep off the sunshine. By the time the plant withered up, the fruit would usually be a heavy load for a man. If kept for a month or so before cooking, it resembled in appearance and taste, the Swedish turnip. The fruits, when ripened off, could be kept for several months hung up in a dry place.

Some native castes considered pumpkin to be the eldest son and forbade women from cutting it. Twentieth-century reforms endorsing vegetarianism made several households in Maharashtra and Bengal give up the practice of slaughtering a goat or a buffalo. A pumpkin was cut instead. This replacement of the pumpkin with the animal forced several Brahmin households in Maharashtra to not eat it on happy occasions.

However, the Europeans used the pumpkin to make soups and desserts. There was red pumpkin salad which had been a favourite in Bombay and Poona since the days of John Company. This salad went well with cold meat, or with curry and rice. “The Bombay Chronicle” on November 2, 1927, published the recipe for the same – “You need a large slice of red pumpkin a couple of inches thick. This you must skin and cut into bits before you put it to boil in very little water. You take the same amount of green chillies, ginger, and onions as you use for the other salad. As soon as your pumpkin is ready, remove it from the fire and press and drain away the water. Allow it to cool; then mix your chillies, onions etc, and sprinkle with salt to taste. Have ready half a cup of coconut milk which must be thick. Mix this in last, incorporating it well with your other ingredients. A little acid is needed to make the dish just right, so squeeze some lemon, or lime, juice over the salad.”

In January 1912, a few months after the flower show, a proposal was sent to the Reformatory School. The children could make pumpkin jam and sell it in the local markets, it was suggested.

This story featuring the Reformatory, pumpkin jam, and counterfeit chutney is for next week.

Chinmay Damle is a research scientist and food enthusiast. He writes here on Pune’s food culture. He can be contacted at chinmay.damle@gmail.com