Tuesday, February 16, 2010

The whole deal about mangoes ;)

I remember watching "Mirza Ghalib", with nana, starring Nasirruddin Shah, it was quite a sought after movie in those days, or it appeared to be as nana was super excited about watching it. Though I couldn't understand the heads or tails of it as I was very young, what kept me glued to my place were the delicacies being served to us by my aunt while the movie was on. As the movie proceeded, there was a scene in which the protagonist had a bucket full of mangoes dipped in water, and everyone around was busy taking in the sweet flavour and enjoying every bit of it, even the peels weren't spared and were flattened to perfection..all of a sudden nana gave out a loud exclamation.."See! This is how we are supposed to eat mangoes, after dipping them overnight in a bucket full of water!" "Look child", he looked at me, "ask your mother to dip mangoes in a bucket of water, so that you don' t have to suffer the boils your refrigerated mangoes invite."
I could see nana's mouth watering at the sight of mangoes, while I enjoyed my favourite mango squash, indifferent to the boil terror the adult world endorsed.
Be it sugar canes or mangoes, every fruit was celebrated like a festival. Grandma made arrangements for the slim plastic knit beds called "folding",to be laid in her huge courtyard as the whole family collected with a bucket placed next to each bed, and everyone enjoyed the sweet delights of nature while me and my cousins being stupid kids, ignorant about the joys of the famous fruit, ran around the courtyard, contributing to the festive feel of the day.
On my recent visit I saw, that the same courtyard has now shrunk to an unrecognisable size, coz the whole place has embraced the ever changing times, but when I sat down and closed my eyes, the air smelt of the same old fruit, as memories flashed back like a pack of cards piling up within, happily, I laid them out through my mind and savoured the taste of the most cherished days of my life :)

20 comments:

  1. Nothing better than reliving the most cherished memories tucked away in some corner of our mind, right? This post made me remember the summers we spent at our Grandmother's place where my sister and I set out to collect the ripe mangoes that had fallen in the backyard, first thing in the morning! Aah....those were the days....:)

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  2. Double sweet memories of childhood with mangoes:)

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  3. Childhood is often the best phase of life and it's a pity that we're losing the innocence of it. This post reminded me of how my grandmother used to dry the mangoes in order to make pickles. Our mornings were marked by tasting each mango and grabbing a spoon of pickle. Aah, those were the days!! Nostalgia at its best Sana. Keep up the good work.

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  4. This was a nice memory of nana and you. It is always nice to remember what gave us pleasure as a child. Have a nice week.

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  5. The mango season hasn't started and you already make us drool over them.But you have more than made up for this discomfort by your pleasant and well written post

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  6. ohh.. I remember how my father drools over mangoes... He takes cartons of them with him when he leaves ...

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  7. Veena my grandmas place wasn't very far away from my home,it was just a matter of croosing a lane, but I loved spending my time there..yes certain memories just cuddle up in a corner of our mind, the most precious memories of our life :)

    Yup KK! Double sweet for sure :)


    Thanks Akshay!Mango pickle yummmmm!

    Thnaks Margaret, grandparents and parents are the greatest treasure one can ever have :)

    Sorry Gp,but summers are not far...just around the corner..I hope they are not hot as they were last year..love winters for sure!

    Ya, even my abbu loves mangoes, but nana used to flatten them up, I used to insist on taking another one, but he used to shoo me away :)

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  8. Sana.. i loved reading it... by the way i too leart something from ur nana.. about dipping it in water! thanks to ur nana, while saying those he never knew that after many years many others would be learning this from him thru his granchild!..

    the last lines of the post were really awsome.. it made the scene alive!!

    thanks for beautiful posts.. your blog has an all thru positive feel when one enters it.. Keep writing...

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  9. Hi Sana, you wrote about my most favourite thing..mangoes...yummy!!!!
    I love summers for that..I can eat them "till they start coming out of my ears" (a phrase borrowed from a drama I don't remember) ...LOL
    Thanks for sharing such a yummy post :)

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  10. Hi Sindhu,
    yes, he was very particular bout certain things :)Thanks for the heartwarming reply:)

    Nice phrase Amrit, thanks for coming by :)

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  11. My mouth is watering, waiting for April to get a mango...

    Cheers!!!!!

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  12. But why mangoes when all we see around us are oranges

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  13. Coz Tanzeen, memories have no record for seasons they can make your mouth water at any point of time by giving life to some of the precious moments that you'd always want to cherish :)

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  14. whoa! yummy days haan! we have this mango tree in front of our house (in the city!!) As soon its mango season, we have kids throwing stones and trying to get as many mangoes as they can. And RAW ONES!!! man! yummmm season.. am waiting already :D :) U made my mouth water :P

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  15. Another lovely yadeein, for it is sure to bring back at least some of the reader's similar yaadeins

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  16. Thanks Swatantra and Subu, its great to have you guys here..have a wonderful day ahead!:)

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  17. Hey Shruti!!Raw mangoes..ymmm..thanks for sharing such a cute memory!:)

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  18. Mangoes and childhood..
    wow!I remember wen i was once caught on the tree and i didnt came down for a long time until the gardener promised me to take all the mangoes.
    Thatwas fun.
    U reminded me that.
    Feels gr8.

    Lovely

    Cheers

    Nuts

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