mango mango

"the fragrance from your mango groves makes me wild with joy."
Rabindranath Tagore, Amar Sonar Bangla

I have been thinking about mangoes. Of the mangoes of Desh, golden and juicy, sweet to taste and intoxicating to smell, oh manna from heaven ! The western world is full of mango heathen, eating the insipid south american version of the fruit readily available in their so called "supermarkets", bland and tasteless when compared to the fragrant and richly flavoured mangoes of Desh! I have tried to educate the people of Blighty, to help them repent the errors of their ways, to show them the path of redemption and truth, but the mango heathen continue to prefer their false mangoes! Never mind, more mangoes for you and me!

In recent days I kept feasting away on mangoes, and Akbar kept asking me if it made me itchy. Laughing at his old-wives tales, I would not accept any criticism of my fair mangoes. Then yesterday I read that mangoes belong to the same family of plants (sumac) as poison-ivy. Why have I been feeling itchy and uncomfortable ever since???

Mango is the beloved fruit of the whole sub-continent, finding pride of place in the Bangladesh national anthem, official appointment as the national fruit of India, and...and..Pakistan. Pakistan's love is much more subtle. In the nation where Islamic parties have condemned as unislamic everything local from wearing red at weddings, to kite-flying and spring festivals - noone has raised a word against the mango, inspite of no evidence of the Prophet ever enjoying the same!

However, what interests me is the Alphonso and its status in India. More on that next time.