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The king on display!
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Over 500 varieties were on view at the Mango Festival
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Delicious Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit at the fest
Mallika, Neelam, Husn Ara, Laila……well, these are not names picked from a list of beauties but those of mango varieties!
And not just the Mallikas and Neelams, there were many more such varieties jostling for your appreciation at the recently concluded 20th Mango Festival in New Delhi. A joint effort of the Government of Delhi and Delhi Tourism, the annual festival boasted more than 500 varieties of mangoes and drew participation from around 50 mango growers from across the country as well as Government organisations like the Indian Agricultural Research Institute and the Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
Hybrid mangoes on display ranged from pebble sized “angoor danas” — small enough for about 30 of them to make up a kilo — to huge “hathi jhools” weighing as much as five kgs each! The mangoes, however, were not for sale. The prize winning entries in different categories were displayed in the centre of the hall. “Khali Mahabali”, from Mustafa Orchards of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, won the first prize for the biggest mango. Tariq Mustafa, the orchard owner, whose mangoes won first prizes in three categories, proudly revealed that he had brought 210 varieties to the display, held at the city’s Pragati Maidan.
“The quality, the size and the process of growing is what we judge the mangoes by,” said Insram Ali, All India President of the Mango Grower Association of India and Director of the National Horticulture Board. Asked to name the best variety, he unequivocally declared Dusehri as the king of fruits. He also revealed that they were patenting it and the process was almost complete. Various activities like mango eating competitions, mango quiz, mango slogan writing and cultural programmes were also organised.
ZEHRA NAQVI
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