Mitu Varma in New Delhi:
AAM IS WHAT the meaty, luscious fruit is called in Hindi. The word also means ´common´. But the king among the Subcontinental fruits had his revenge this season by turning most elusive, so much so that the price never dipped below 30 rupees a kilogram. Almost the entire crop of juicy "Malda" mangoes from the East fell victim to excessive rain. Mango connoisseurs all over shed copious tears at the sorry sight of drowned mango trees when shots of floods in West Bengal were flashed on national television.
To be sure, there were other varieties. But the flame-coloured, exquisitely flavoured Alphonso grown in the west, particularly Maharashtra, stealthily removed itself via the export market. Named possibly after a sprightly Mr Alphonso of Goa where it was originally grown, this particular species must think India pretty downmarket for its charms.
The sweet and humble Dashehari from the North, of modest size, made a tantalising foray into the market, only to rapidly diminish in numbers and disappear altogether. What did the little fellow in, my friendly neighbourhood fruitwallah is unable to say. An early monsoon, the lure of the selfsame export market, or the lack of hot-enough blasts of "Looh"? The secret seems to have gone with the unseasonal passing of diminutive Dashehari.