The International Mango Festival At Delhi

“ It’s a question of the mind.” Dahlia said with a tone of finality. “ An apple a day keeps a doctor away. You can’t change history, Ross. How could you be so stubborn?” So saying Dahlia just walked away from the place with a huff.

With a chuckle and a grin, Ronald and I stole mischievous glances. Our mission had been accomplished. Our main aim was to get Dahlia, my sister irritated and then to get her to get out of the room so that we could start planning for her surprise birthday party.

I wanted to do something different for Dahlia this time as she was just recovering from her operation of appendicitis. So the feeling of helplessness and distress was there in her. Couple of months back she had been that hapless victim of a tummy ache which later turned out to be a bout of appendicitis. Today, she had convalesced and was good but really needed a break.

As I shuffled the pages of the newspaper after having  read about the International Mango Festival scheduled in July , I travelled down memory lane when I had been with my wife to the festival last year. I still remember how Monica had gone berserk there seeing the varieties of mangoes.

With India being the largest producer of mangoes in the world and more than around 1000 kinds of mangoes grown here in the entire country, it is but natural that Delhi the capital of India would host the mango festival. Last year we had been to Delhi to attend the wedding of our nephew Ranjit. After the wedding, we had time to go around and what did we find? The International Mango Festival.

At the first glance we didn’t know what was going on as we had never heard of it. Then when I asked a passerby he told us it was the festival of mangoes. It had started in the year 1987. I guess one should learn energy and vitality from Delhi. Even in the sweltering heat, the verve and the enthusiasm not lost here. All roads in Delhi led to mangoes during this festival season. As we walked along the road, we saw mangoes of all types on display. There were buyers from all over the world who were in the process of selling it like a business. Mango is inevitably the king of fruits.

“Aayiye dekhiye, aapki apni pasand ki aam!” a vendor was yelling meaning to say “Come , look at your own choice of mangoes.”

“That’s the alphonso or hapus as they say in Mumbai.” Said my wife Monica. I was just wondering if there was a place where we could also taste what we see. Sure enough, my prayers were answered and just right ahead we saw a stall where you could go in , feel the mangoes and taste it. I did exactly that much to the chagrin of Monica who spent the rest of the evening wiping the stain off my shirt.

“What is this ?” I asked the vendor. “ Malda ,Ross. You don’t recognize a Malda?” Monica chided me. Monica a botanist and a science lover used to know about all this. Then we saw the Nurse, Chorasya, Fazia, Gelco stacked in the stalls and the visitors seeing all of them with their mouths wide open.

We then walked ahead and came across a place where there were many tents. Each tent had some activity going on. We went inside one of them to see what was happening.

“And the person who eats the maximum mangoes is the winner.” Was exclaiming the man inside. I was aghast to see the commotion there. There were at least 200 people and there were around 25 of them who were to participate in the show. As the bell sounded, everyone started to eat the mango in a hurry. There were some who were late in starting and were not even half way through. The crowd cheered on as the participants gobbled big chunks of mangoes inside so that they could finish early. The eating competition also had its rules. The assessment was done on the base of categories. Each mango came under a particular category and then a participant had to eat a minimum of seven mangoes. Whoa! That was so exciting. The biggest mango would also avail of a price. The atmosphere was electric and the entire surroundings choked with a kind belligerent kid.

The next place we went to was a place where there was a demonstration of mango carving. Many women were participating in this with the sole exception of a two to three college going kids. As the women started the carving , it turned out to be more than the usual competition. Many women were carving many figurines and shapes out of their mangoes. It was fan. There was a woman who really wouldn’t give up and carved a small lovely piece of intricately carved monument. That was the best.

We kept walking in the streets of Delhi and came to a place where many college students were sitting with a paper and pen. It later turned out that they were given something that would give them a chance to hone their mental skills. They had to write a slogan on mangoes. Everyone started furiously writing when the judge said “Start”. The competition was around 10 min. This too was big fun.

Far ahead somewhere in the distance a magic show was going on. The crowd cheered and the kids enjoyed. The jamboree atmosphere was replete with a lot of laughter and gaiety. To keep the crowd in humor, the magician had a magic with mangoes too. There was a juggler who juggled with mangoes and it was amazing to see the way he could maneuver the entire thing.

I participated in a quiz on mangoes. There were so many questions asked on mangoes. I lost it in the first round but there was guy from Benares who had come down and he apparently must have done a PhD in mangoes. Any question on mango asked and pat he was replying.

Monica went berserk buying mango confectionery there. Since people from all over would come, the confectionary companies tried to showcase their best product. There were mango pickles of all kinds. I am a fan of mango pickles and when I reached a stall where I could taste the pickles I just binged on them. Let alone the fact that I had to be stuck with an acidity problem for the rest of the week, yet I did enjoy the entire tasting the pickle bit. Fruit juices flowed in plenty and everyone tasted the fresh taste of the ripe mango.

It was orange and green all over and the fact that many had congregated here proved the monopoly of mango as the king of fruits. This is a place for the true mango lover. This is the time when an ignorant person can be educated on the intricacies of the fruit mango. This festival has been held in the month of July in Delhi every year from the year 1987. The Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit inaugurated this festival officially in the year 2006. This festival is run by the collaborative efforts of the Delhi Tourism and Transportation Development Corporation,   the National Horticultural Board, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority  and the New Delhi Municipal council. It is sometimes organized at the Talkatora Indoor stadium or at the Dilli Haat. The varieties found here range from the Faji, Safeda, Ruchika, Kesar, Dhoon, Amrapali, Shamasi, Malda, Mallika, Chausa, Dahsehari, Nigarin Kheria, Langra, Fazia, Alphonso, Balia, HImsagar, Dhaman and Lakshman Bhog to name a few.

Mango items like aam papad and aam panna are commonly available here and more than 1365 species of mangoes from across the world are showcased. Out of them 1000 species are from India alone. Also held at Chandigarh, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pinjore and Pune, the festival is a very lucrative and unique way to popularize mango and is a good social occasion too.

So if you want to dig into the flavor of the king of fruits just get ready to visit the International Mango festival. Book these three days of the year for July well in advance and enjoy the sight of seeing the mango lovers getting attracted to the venue just like bees getting attracted to honey. The Mango Festival is also celebrated in different parts of the country during the months of June – July. Some of them are Pinjore, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Pune to name a few. India alone cultivates over 1,000 varieties of the fruit out of the 1365 varieties found in the entire world. So this July catch yourself binging into this high calorie, mango fruit festival.