MOUTHWATERING MANGO MUSINGS
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Mouthwatering Mango Musings - recollections of delicious yesteryears as the new Mango season approaches...
I love eating Mangoes – yes, the mango is my favourite fruit.
The mango is ubiquitous in India
All these years I bought mangoes from the market, but now, ever since I live in the pristine verdant paradise called Girinagar, I relish mangoes exclusively from my own garden.
Let me tell you about it.
We are surrounded by a large number of mango trees, each of a different variety, and one thing I have learnt is that mango trees bear fruit every alternate year. Also each variety of the mango ripens at different times which enable us to enjoy the king of fruits through the long mango season from April to July.
In early April the abundant fruit on the Hapus tree started getting ready and for a month we relish the delightfully flavoured Alphonso mango, truly the King of Kings amongst Mangoes.
Then there is a wait as in eager anticipation we closely watch the fruit on the Langda and Malda [Bombay Green] trees ripen, and in May it is time to savour the fibreless juicy-sweet Langda and the pleasantly flavoured fleshy Malda.
Last, but not the least, in June and July, it's time to savour the uniquely flavoured Chausa [Chowsa], probably the sweetest and most delicate mango in the world with an utterly delicious lingering aftertaste – a fitting end to the mango season.
Now I eagerly wait for the mango season about to begin this year when the remaining trees – the Neelam, the Dusehri, the Rajapuri and the other Alphonso Hapus tree will bear their succulent delicious fruit.
Are you wondering how come there are so many varieties of mangoes out here in my quaint picturesque bungalow in Girinagar – well it is the legacy of the wonderful nature loving foodies who lived here for all these years.
And now let me tell you about my surroundings – the most beautiful, most pristine, most unpolluted and most verdant place in Pune – a lovely place called “Girinagar”.
Pune has changed – for the worse.
The pleasant, salubrious, tranquil, stress-free, easygoing, cozy, affable Pune (then known as Poona) I once lived in no longer exists.
Every nook and corner of Pune has suffered the ravages of “modernization” – except one place – Girinagar.
With the mighty Sinhagad Fort towering as a Sentinel, Girinagar is a fascinating place located on the slopes of the hills adjoining the cool blue Khadakvasla Lake
The view from the Girinagar ridge is amazing.
The view from the Girinagar ridge is amazing.
You can see backwaters of Panshet and Varasgaon dams in the distance, and close by down below the serene expanse of the Khadakvasla Lake
The metamorphosis at sunset is enthralling.
The dance of colours, on the waters of the lake, from yellow to orange to crimson to blue to grey and then a still darkness – I have not seen a more magnificent sunset view anywhere else.
In the mornings as you climb up the hills the pure cool unpolluted fresh air cleanses, refreshes, revitalizes and invigorates your lungs, you look in the distance and see the heavy layer of smog settling down over the city of Pune
And when it rains, the sensuous mist envelops all around, everything is a soothing green, and the place is simply magnificent...
That is my story of Mangoes Memories in a pristine paradise called Girinagar near Pune...
That is my story of Mangoes Memories in a pristine paradise called Girinagar near Pune...
And now as summer arrives, I eagerly await the Mango Season...
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2010
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work
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