tales of Suchita

I cannot believe I have been writing odes for #BlogchatterFoodFest, that I have written THREE so far and I have not mentioned aam, mango, alphonso, dussheri, langda, badam, totapari, kesar…in any shape or form. The blasphemy! I must remedy this immediately, so here goes.

My sister loves asking me what my favourite XYZ thing is. She has asked my favourite cuisine, dessert, actor, actress, movie, song, fruit, vegetable, daal, etc. And every time I answer her question, it feels like she is disappointed in my choices.

Or lack thereof. Because usually, I tell her, I don’t have a favourite anything because I like to eat. As long as its tasty, I can and will eat it. Just ask mom.

But I do have a favourite fruit and that’s mango. I may have already mentioned this anecdote on my blog somewhere but since I have to hear it every year during the mango season, you have to read it again, even if you’re familiar with it.

So, the story goes, even as a three or four-year-old, I was a fan of mangoes. At the time, I used to live in a bungalow that had a gate. I would climb on that gate, throw my arms out of it like I was trapped behind bars, and stop every person who was selling mangoes to buy myself some. The dialogue I used was, “Aam waale bhaiya, aam deke jaana.”

It tickles my parents to hilarity every time they enact little old me, demanding mangoes like there weren’t already a dozen in the kitchen.

In fact, even when I was in Singapore doing my Masters, I was gutted when I realized that I wouldn’t make it back to India before the mango season ended. But I needed to eat some to commemorate the beginning of the season so I scoured Little India and Mustafa until I found some. They were some of the tastiest mangoes I have ever eaten!

And I also wrote a little myth, inspired by Adam, Eve and the apple, around why mangoes are available only for a few short months. You can check it out here.

Much like nariyal ki barfi, aam is the taste of my childhood. Whether in the form of mango milkshake, aam panna, aam ras or simple aam pieces, I will eat aam in all sizes and forms. I don’t have a favourite mango type though. Much like food, I will eat any aam, as long as it is aam.

Do you have a favourite fruit?