Himalayan News Service

New Delhi, July 3:

They slowly begin to surface in April. By June they are everywhere, taking over India’s culinary rituals and get-togethers and suddenly the Indian subcontinent is hailing the king of fruits — mango. Called ambu, maampazham, maanga, maavin hannu, aam or simply mango — depending on which part of the landmass one comes from, the fruit is an inseparable part of summer. In north India, toddlers learning their first lesson make no mistakes when it comes to the second letter — aa — of the Hindi alphabet as they read aloud ‘aa se aam’. While the normal cut-and-eat method is preferred only as a matter of civility, given a chance most people would simply dig their teeth and gorge the delicious fruit. Some take pleasure in suckling the sumptuous seed of the fruit. Pickling raw mango is a favourite preserve and served as part of traditional sub-continental meals. Call it the ‘avakkai’ of Andhra that sets the tongue on fire, ‘achar’ of the north, ‘kadumaanga’ and ‘uppilittathu’ — raw mango slices soaked in salt water — of Kerala, they are simply different ways of making the mouth and eyes water.

The fruit has held several legendary poets like Kalidasa, Amir Khusrau and Mirza Ghalib under its luscious spell. Kalidasa (353-420 AD) in his epic poem ‘Ritusamharam’ said, “Intoxicated by the nectar of mango blossoms, the cuckoo kisses his mate happily in love. The lovely mango shoot is Love God’s choicest arrow, the swarm of bees is his bow string.” Legend goes that famous Delhi-based Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib (1796-1869), a great lover of mangoes, was once taunted by a friend, “Even a donkey does not eat mangoes.” Quick-witted Ghalib retorted, “Yes! After all, a donkey that he is.” In recent times, author David Davidar’s book

‘The House of Blue Mangoes’ dedicated an entire chapter and his book’s title to mangoes.

Indian political leaders have often used mangoes as a tool of diplomatic nicety. Late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, himself a lover of mangoes, made it a point to introduce the fruit to the countries he visited. In May 1965 the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri gifted the Russian president with mangoes. Yugoslavia’s Marshall Tito too was treated to a crate of alphonso mangoes by late prime minister Indira Gandhi.

Botanically known as Magnifera indica, mangoes are native to Malaysia and India where they have been cultivated for at least 4,000 years. In the 19th century, traders introduced the fruit to the West Indies, Africa, South America, Persia and Egypt. Now mangoes are cultivated in 63 countries including China, Indonesia, Australia and West Indies. There are nearly 1,000 varieties of mangoes in India, out of which 20 are grown commercially. The fruit is well adapted to tropical and subtropical climates and thrives in almost all regions of India. In India, the fruit occupies 1.23 million hectares of area under plantation and the country ranks first in terms of production with 54 per cent of the total world production (19.22 million tonnes). However, India ranks only sixth in terms of productivity and is far behind in exports. This is mainly because of high levels of domestic consumption and a lack of attractive colouring (most markets for mangoes look out for the typical reddish or orange coloured fruits).

“Productivity is also low because in recent years the area under cultivation has drastically gone up. It takes between four to eight years for fruition and so the results would be seen only later,” said Ajay Verma, principal scientist, Central Institute for Subtropical Horticulture in Lucknow. “Secondly, our productivity period is very limited between April and June, whereas in other countries like Brazil and Mexico mangoes are cultivated throughout the year,” he said. The total export of mangoes and mango-based products from the country in 2003-04 was 166,739 tonnes valued at $88.3 million. “Most varieties of mangoes grown by farmers do not even reach the urban centres in India as people there have no idea about what is available,” said Hans Raj, a mango-trader from Moradabad, “I have spent 40 years selling mangoes and have seen many new varieties being introduced. But the customer’s excitement has remained the same when it comes to mangoes. The mangoes sell in no time.”

“After all, it is the king of fruits!”