B - BANANA ANYONE?

Today is B!! @a-z challenge
Ok..I promise this post wont sound like some encyclopedia! While I'm writing for the A-Z challenge, I thought it'd be cool if I could impart some 'GYAAN/KNOWLEDGE' too and make my posts little more meaningful, rather than just silly updates which I had intended yesterday - which I might still do btw.

We all know what is a banana. Many of us love it or hate but eat it anyways or have eaten it at some point ( assuming you dont eat anymore ). It has loads of vitamins and calcium which is good for your bones, teeth and body-metabolism. It is the only 'perfect' food that a man can live on healthily, without needing anything else. Many also gets kinky thoughts when they see a banana ( ahem ahem...we wont go there )
One will be surprised, shocked, stunned, aghast that in some gulf country, women are forbided to buy banana in the market or touch/eat it, lest they get sexual thoughts at the sight of one :-0 Dont believe me? Read Here!


Couldnt resist adding this pic, I'm sure you'll understand what I meant :D
Now, if that wasn't shocking enuff, let me take you on a banana trip, that will indeed pop your eyes open in wonder!
All fruits has seeds, have you ever found one in the banana? No right? Well go ahead and check. Answer will still be No! Then how on earth does it lay its offsprings? Mystery eh? That too especially when they are found in all corners of this world.

Banana plants dont grow like trees. They do have big leaves but no branches. How strange, leaves are supposed to grow on the branches right? Banana has none. Yet the leaves grow, that too gigantic in size compared to leaves of other trees. Ok..let me spill the beans. Banana plant is no tree at all ( ha ha gotchya! ), rather its an oversized herb ( tallest herb infact, sometimes growing to over 30 feet ). And its trunks are leaves themselves, hence, its the only one of a kind tree without the 'woody' trunk. Whoa right! I told you, your eyes gonna pop. But wait, I'm not done yet!

The lone stem of the plant is not visible for quite some time, as the leaves continue to grow and form the trunk and ultimately it ( i.e stem ) shoots out with the banana flower ( often eaten as vegetable too ) in its end, which then develop into the banana 'fruit'! And once it begins to ripen, the plant dies :-(
With no seeds, and only one banana life cycle. Sad! But even then, you'll find a new tiny banana plant making its appearance from the root of the dead plant.
And since the new plant grows only over the dead body of the previous one, how on earth did the plant make its presence felt in various countries all over the globe. Puzzling right? Almost all the other plants exist via the various trade men carried out on their travels. But the banana without a seed or sapling to carry, how is it possible? I know you are all pulling your hairs out now!

There are many plants now that are genetically modified and donot contain seeds. But that process is controlled by scientists and researchers. Whereas, banana is ancient! Unless some of our ancestors genetically modified it in the past, but thats all too hypothetical.
Did nature produce it simultaneously everywhere, seems quite unlikely.
But someone, somewhere in the past indeed do something for the plant to be found everywhere today and landing on our dining tables without much of an effort. So hail, the Bananas. Next time you eat one, thank those people, nature, god, ghosts, whoever spread this mysterious plant to all corners of this world.

Tomorrow is C. Cucumber also has met with same fate like banana for arousing sexual thoughts. Should I write about it? Will be too much for you all? Hmmm...well will think about something else then :-D

Meanwhile try answering the Banana Quiz :-D
1. What does 'Go Bananas' mean?
2. What is a Banana Republic?

This post is part of the A-Z challenge for April'2013. Except Sundays, post everyday with 26 alphabets.

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