For the love of the fruit

Mango Mania

It’s that time of the year again — the king of fruits made his presence felt in abundance at the Ranga Shankara ‘Mango Party’.

The aroma of ripe mangoes filled the place and children and adults alike were busy digging into the fruit like there was no tomorrow. After all, that’s the magic of the ‘Mango Party’. For close to ten years now, the event has become one of the most sought-after occasions in the City, with people coming only for the love of the fruit. Children, senior citizens and people of all age groups flock to the place with a kilo of mangoes of their choice each, and after putting it in a pool of water they settle down with their favourite variety.

To make the occasion more memorable, the participants and guests were all dressed in shades of yellow, orange and green in order to match the colours of the mangoes and add more life to the event.

 The surroundings were decorated with a variety of mangoes to enlighten people about the various kinds of mangoes available in the market.

Not only did they have the common varieties like Alphonso, Badami and Malika, but people also brought in some uncommon ones like Sugar Baby, Langara and Imam Pasand. Shilpa, an architect, has been attending the party along with her family for the last five years.

“It’s such an innovative concept to bring the community together. Not only do children enjoy it but so do we adults,” she says. Her son Pranav, who studies in the fifth standard, adds, “I love everything about the mango party. I can’t wait to have Alphonso mangoes.”

Meera, a homemaker, feels that the party is also very educational for the children. “They have actually designed games like ‘Guess the Mango’ which is good because children can expand their knowledge on the fruit,” she adds. Also seen in the crowd was Arundhati Nag’s daughter, Kavya.

“I feel the mango is one fruit that can bring out one’s inner child,” she says.
 Arundhati Nag too joined in by digging into a mango and interacting with the people around. “Over the last ten years, the party has moved on from being a Ranga Shankara event to that of the people itself. We are planning to have more such events — maybe a corn party,” she states.

Afterwards, children were treated to stories that revolved around mangoes and cute games like ‘The Fastest Mango Eater’ and ‘Guess the Mango’, which kept everyone entertained till the end.