Mango adventures in Hoshiarpur

There are multiple reasons to roll out the proverbial red carpet for winter. But the sweltering hot summer of North India has one redeeming feature — the sumptuous, mouth-watering mangoes. Even the most finicky palates crave for its rich deliciousness. My niece is one such example. Her fondness for mango takes me back to my childhood when my siblings and I would sit together, clad in our tattered vests, and compete to devour the most mangoes.

My mother hails from Hoshiarpur, once the mango hub of Punjab. She would often regale us with stories of childhood pranks in her grandfather’s mango orchards. She would climb trees loaded with the bounty of summer and relish these to the fullest. Every summer, my Nani would prepare the mango pickle and send it to all the near and dear ones through railway courier service.

One of my mother’s uncle was obsessed with her mango pickle. Once when a shipment went missing on its way, he took the railway authorities to task. For this loss, he was compensated. My mother vividly recollects the day when wooden boxes filled with mangoes would be delivered in bullock-carts at their ancestral house. Then, the mangoes were dipped in cold water in an earthen water pond in the vast verandah. Like bees to honey, the children would swarm around the pond and dive into it to grab the ripest and juiciest mangoes. After feasting to their heart’s content, they would sip the homemade ‘kachi lassi’. Having binged on the variety of mangoes, they would lapse into afternoon siesta. Her mango adventures would leave us with hearty peals of laughter.

My father’s hometown was at a stone’s throw from that of my mother’s. His town appeared sandwiched by mango orchards. My father recounts how the adjoining fields to his hometown would have mangoes of various varieties, shapes and sizes. Even today, at the sight of a slice of mango, he turns nostalgic and gets transported back to days of mango plenty. I clearly remember that mangoes would come in different flavours, such as saunfi, saffron, orange and what not. The saunfi mango was the most popular because of its almond like crispness. It had a unique flavour. The jumbo mango was another favourite variety — huge in size, it weighed 1-2 kg. It would grow on the branches of dwarf trees with its leaves kissing the ground beneath. We the midget in size would effortlessly pluck the fruit to stockpile our baskets.

Sadly, with relentless urbanisation, mango orchards are rare to find in those areas of Punjab. The indigenous varieties of this darling fruit have all but disappeared from the markets. In its place, one gets early fruit-bearing and high-yielding varieties.

Yet, despite all this, the majestic mango remains the ruler of hearts — of men, women and children alike.

Prof Shiv Sethi