10 bunch banana tree in 'Vazhachettan's' farm; 520 varieties including foreign ones

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: 10 bunches in a single banana tree. This is a native of Thailand and Vietnam. S. Vinod, a native of Parasala, Thiruvananthapuram, is taking care of this rare banana tree as if it were gold. There are 520 varieties of bananas, both native and foreign, in Vinod's four and a half acres of farmland. Vinod got the ten-bunch banana sapling from a nursery in Kolkata two months ago, during his travels in search of different varieties of banana saplings. It will bear fruit when it is 10 months old.

Vinod's farm is a wonderland of various types of banana trees. Vinod's love for bananas earned him the nickname 'Vazhachettan'. Vinod's garden has bananas from countries like Thailand, Africa, Malaysia, Australia, and rare varieties from inside and outside Kerala.

There is also a banana named 'Thiruvananthapuram' from Karnataka. There are Pagar banana, Boji Manohar from Bengal, Virupakshi used to make Panchamirtham in the Palani temple, Saldatti from Goa, Manoranjitham from Tamil Nadu, Poompodiyan, Krishna banana from Uttar Karnataka, foreign varieties such as Saba, Pisan Navaka, Sugar banana, etc. Vinod, known as the 'Banana Man of India', has also made it to the Limca Book of Records.

Vinod discovers different varieties of bananas through his travels. He sometimes exchanges the varieties he has and buys others. Vinod has been farming bananas for 53 years.

Father's medicine

When Vinod's father, Sahadevan Nair, suffered from a severe ulcer, the doctor advised him to eat a banana called Poonkalli. He ate this banana variety, also known as Kannan Pazham and Karayannan, for a few days. He was cured as well. That's when Vinod fell in love with bananas. He turned to banana farming while he was in seventh grade. He has been collecting different varieties for 14 years.

M.Tech graduate son also in banana farming

M.Tech graduate son Abanish is now a full-time farmer with Vinod. Despite getting a job at Infosys, he decided that farming is better and joined his father.