The humble, obstructive tamarind seed

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Hi folks,
                How r u all?? It has been raining  here off and on and the Software city (previously Garden city:))) is back with windy, gloomy (sleepy) days. Steaming cups of tea with snacks, a nice book,  a corner couch, good backgroud music-if you have all these, voila, heaven on the earth!!
            We South Indians cannot do without sambar, or many other preparations with tamarind pulp. Tamarind (Tamarindus indica) (from Arabic تمر هندي, romanized tamar hind, " Indian date") is a tree in the family Fabaceae. (source Wikipedia).  I remember my mother storing tamarind in ceramic jars (or bharani) mixed with table salt. ( still do not know the purpose of storing like that!!Maybe, for preservation) Tamarind in natural form is seeded. To make the lives easier for working women, we find seedless tamarind, tamarind concentrates these days in all the markets. 
                I don't know why, suddenly, one day, I fell in love with these dark-brown, obstuctive tamarind seeds. It is common to throw away these seeds while squeezing the juice from tamarind. When I closely observed a tamarind seed, I felt it has a shining, bright texture, hardness, smoothness making it ideal for purposes other than throwing away. I keep collecting them so that I can use for art purposes. When I googled for artworks out of tamarind seeds, I could not find much. I would like to share with all of u, some photos of my artworks where these seeds were used. I am trying to bring out more artistic ways of using these seeds.
                     If you have any fantastic ideas about this seed, share them.

Deepa.

Comments

  1. ARJUN R SHANKARJuly 15, 2011 at 8:27 PM

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  2. ARJUN R SHANKARJuly 15, 2011 at 8:37 PM

    The artworks are awesome...simply superb. the best way in which one can effectively use a material that is usually thrown away..this is indeed a unique hobby of collecting them.. i've seen celebrated PHILUMENIST's... now you may be a TAMARINDENIST...(new term. i dont know if there is an existing term in usage).
    and i believe that what ever nature gives us can be utilized in innumerable ways which are yet2 b discovered by us.. all the gifts of nature has its own value an unlimited prospects. artificially created things cannot offer such prospects. that' the power of nature. people generally throw many things and may even term and classify the entire material as WASTE...but i feel nature never creates waste--- waste is anything/evrything created by human---

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