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The mango puranam

Talk of fruits, mango surfaces in your mind: Its myriad varieties, each with its own taste, geographical home, aroma, colour, size and what it offers for your consumption. Undoubtedly, it is the king of fruits. Like any other king, it is not in public view all the time. It appears in the market at a time when the Chennaivasis are huffing and puffing in the sweltering heat of the season.

But when one sits down with a plate full of mango slices or a glass of the fruit’s juice, he praises the gods who presented him this seasonal gift. Indeed, in the season that just finished a couple of months ago, when the market was flooded with mangoes in terms of variety as well as quantity, I went into raptures and told my atheistically-inclined grandson that this great taste could not have been created if there were no God and so, he better start believing in the existence of God!

And he readily agreed!! But when the season was over, he forgot all about God and went back to his old ways!! Such is the spell of mango!!!

But would you believe it? There are a few, one here and one there, who dislike mango. These rare birds have a penchant for pickles made from raw mangoes but a ripe mango, however delicious, is anathema to them. This world is a world of startlingly strange contradictions!

Personally, I swear by the ‘Banaganapalle’ variety, though I know a Mumbaiwallah would not let you go free if you don’t agree with him on the point that ‘Alphonso’ stands by itself alone! In the season that just closed, Alphonso was available in the Chennai market. When it comes to mango, cost is of no consideration to me. And so, I went in for a carton of Alphonsos. Believe me, I felt let down.

And there is the ‘Rasalu’ variety from Andhra which are never abundantly available in Chennai. There is a nephew of mine who would visit every fruit market in Chennai to get a few dozens of this variety of mango. He considers the mango season had not been kind to him unless he had secured a few baskets of this variety.

Eating ‘Rasalu’ is an art in itself. Make a small opening at the stalk end of the fruit and slowly suck the juice out until you grow sure there is no more of it inside the fruit. Having done this, close the incision as well as you can and create a make-believe situation when someone who is fond of the fruit stealthily snatches it and finally feels fooled when he finds that the fruit has been done in by someone earlier.

The Chennai mango season ends with the appearance of Neelam, Rumani and Bangalora (Kilimooku). Neelam, though extremely delicious to taste, repels many for the inside of the shell of most of the fruits of this variety serves as the home of a beetle - the mango beetle. The very thought causes creeps.

But I for one am not willing to let it go at that. I’ll take a knife, peal off the skin, slice the pulp up to the point of the shell’s outer wall, shave the shell clean and eat all the pulp, without leaving a small part of it. No, I'm not deterred by Nature’s arrangements.

And then, the Rumani. A very thin (almost membranous) coat, thick and chunks of pulpy flesh and a very small endocarpic chamber, covered by a hard and woody shell inside which the seed is housed mark this variety. Just take the round fruit into your hand, massage it gently all over - if you are in a hurry, you would tear the skin - make a small opening and press out the fruit's meaty contents on to a plate and have a go! You are in seventh heaven if you had the right eye for selecting the fruit, which is ripe enough, making itself amenable to the treatment suggested. You’ll not regret it.

On the other hand, if you made a wrong selection, the resin and the acid taste will spoil your day. The kilimuku (Bangalora) is last to appear in Chennai markets. It is a favourite of the beach vendors, who sell ‘thenga, manga and sundal’.

During the season, they make segments of the pulp of the fruit, finally cutting each segment into a small section, the whole making a nice-looking piece altogether and offer these with chilli powder and salt to fight the acid taste. As a youngster how I loved it! But now my taste buds wouldn’t let me enjoy it. When you are on the beach, you’ll notice how much the kids and youngsters enjoy it.

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And then, you’ve the Malgova, Khaderpasand, Peethar, Suvarnarekha, Imampasand appearing for short spells in the middle of the season. Each one of these with a distinct taste and flavour has its own set of admiring customers. In the last season, the Langra, and Dusserli varieties of mango which I tasted while I was a student at Banaras appeared in the Chennai market.

Nostalgia led me to taste them again, nearly 55 years later. Well, they seem to score a second class only, against the varieties available south of the Vindhyas.