Sahni Ji,
Talking of dates..long gone the days when we used to get them in a heap sand and elaves etc all included.
Now they come in all sorts of boxes, beautifully packaged, clean and of equal sizes, from various countries.kuwait, dubai, egypt, iran, iraq, libya, somalia, morocco etc etc..even Indian Dates are there...spoiled for choice and not that expensive too..OF Course you would be getting them fresher...This year we also had green dates..not yet ripe..But the downside is malaysia imports dates ONLY for Eid..rest of the year are preserved ones or last years stock.