The Mango People

 “Chewing the honey’d cud”, that is how rumination was described by Keats, if I am not wrong, what a beautiful metaphor! I was wondering, how was I reminded of this, actually I was relishing some Jamun, which has now acquired a distinct exotic aura and aroma ever since it graduated to the neatly packed plastic boxes from the venerable “Dona”, a small bowl made out of leaves of the trees. 

In the pandemic era, disposable plates and bowls have suddenly become a prized commodity. Usually it is the thermocol variety which is in use, however, the traditional Pattal Dona are the more environment friendly poor cousins.More about that some other time; eating Jamun is a pleasure, its taste is neither sweet nor sour, just different, since the fruit itself is small and the seed unusually big for the size of the fruit, I always wondered why couldn’t God design the seed in the right proportion to the size of the fruit. May be He wanted us to savour the taste to the last part since it is so heavenly. Anyway I can go on and on about Jamun but this blog is not about the health benefits of this humble native Indian fruit, but about chewing or rather extracting the delectable part and in the process make your tongue explore the seed from end to end extracting the edible portion. That our face assumes funny contortions in the process does not bother anyone. While we are at Jamuns, can Mangoes be far behind, as both are typically summer Tropical fruits and relished, although mangoes are head and shoulder ahead in the popularity race, having literally conquered the world with its status as even the fruit of diplomacy as well. 

Like all kids of our age, we were extremely fond of the King of Fruits, “falon ka raja” and enjoyed them thoroughly in every possible form, from raw to ripe, its juice or simply cut and popped in without the messy seed,’guthli’ in the vernacular. Those days local varieties of mangoes, which were much smaller in size but more juicy were available in abundance, the sophisticated Alfonso or even the lower in the rung Langda Dashahri etc were beyond the reach of the common man. But the pleasure of eating or rather drinking the mango  straight can’t be described in words. It has to to experienced. Summer vacations was always looked forward to eagerly back from school, Sujay my younger sibling and me would be off for a game of Tennis early in the morning to the local Uday Ranjan Club. After some good fun with the racket, we would cycle down to the market, where there was an exclusive mango bazaar, which was by the roadside and had scores of shops selling their produce calling out the customers and offering them a taste of their produce, something which the youngsters of today and even people of our age who did not have the privilege of a small town upbringing can’t visualise. They would pick up a mango and squeeze it gently so that juice would flow out and then simply pour it in the cup of your palm, so that you could taste it and then choose the sweetest and best ones. Since we were regulars we would often spot uncles who would be moving from shop to shop tasting the mangoes, which I think was adequate for a full fledged breakfast. The tasting in the cup of the palm was a messy business, which our sensibilities did not permit so we acquired the skill of distinguishing them with just their aroma, smelling them we could make out whether it was sweet or sour, in fact smelling any fruit one can easily ascertain its general taste. 

Raw mangoes were the objective of our raids in RIMC and even earlier, oh the sheer pleasure of stealing those mangoes from the orchards or even our Master's bungalows! Like a a troop of monkeys  we would storm these unsuspecting trees, generally in the wee hours of mornings, when the occupants and guards were fast asleep and pluck every possible fruit, raw or ripe did not concern us, just the pleasure of this loot and then the ecstatic taste which lingers on till today. Of course the spoils were distributed when we were safe in our dormitories. We would even distribute these to some others quite generously, as they say in Urdu "Maal-e-muft, die beraham" ( when it is free the kindness overflows).

Raw mangoes could be put to tastier uses, my mother would get hold of the raw mangoes which were plucked for ripening in the orchards and keep them wrapped in paper and husk, providing ideal environment for ripening gradually, thus ensuring a perennial supply throughout the summers. Raw mangoes are an essential ingredient for a number of mouth watering delicacies, with different types of Chutneys, Pickles, Mango Panna ( a drink made out of raw mangoes and jaggery, ideal for cooling down after a hot summer day. The palate was always overflowing …….for us the Mango people!