Job's Tears or Tear Grass

Description:

Straggly clumps growing on a patch of land that has been sold for the construction of residential flats/houses. What caught my eyes wëre the colourful "berries"and the fact that no one seemed to raid them. No birds perched on it, the cows did not nibble it...even the urchins left it alone. Most unusual.

Habitat:

This land has been lying idle for years now and part of it is a garbage dump. On other parts construction materials for other buildings is dumped and water floods it sometimes too. The place is too unclean and unsafe ( risk of snakes etc) to approach more closely.

Notes:

A lady who saw me take the photogrpahs stopped and told me it was called Gaya or Goya Gaach in Bangle. Gaach means tree/plant. She also said that as a kid she used to string the "berries"and wear that as a bead necklace; apparently rural girls did that often. She also plucked a berry and showed me where they inserted the needle...there was a dark dot. According to her the plant is inedible and useless. (According to Wikipedia, the last statement is not correct.) Useless? Can that apply to anything in natiure? Help please for ID.