Banana, I have wronged thee.

In an earlier post, I had, quite uncharitably, described the banana as a rather ‘pedestrian’ and unexciting fruit and, for good measure, had also quoted Robert Lynd as saying that “we eat bananas not because we like them, but because they give us less trouble than any other fruit.”.

Vikram Doctor, in an article in The Economic Times, narrates how, soon after the Wall fell in 1989, it was the lowly banana that sent East German kids into ecstasy when they sighted the fruit for the first time in their lives. Their West German brethren had been splurging on the fruit in the Wirtschaftwunder (economic miracle) years of the 50s and 60s. So it’s not surprising then that when the Wall fell, bananas were a sign of victory. A popular bumper sticker of the time had two bananas forming a D for a united Deutschland.

Note to self: Don’t ever ridicule the banana again.