The Big Ranga Shankara Mango Party

Despite the clammy weather and blistering heat there is one thing that we all unarguably love about summers, the mangoes! Be it a chilled alphonso, green mango with salt and chilli powder or grandmother’s home made mango pickle (stashed away in a traditional ceramic pot, kept in a dark cool corner of the house, to marinate in rich spices) we love it all.

To celebrate the king of fruits Ranga Shankara played host to a mango party this Sunday. Everyone was invited to the mango party the deal was to bring a kilo of mangoes and eat as much as you can from the pool. This way one gets to taste all kinds of mangoes. There was Neelam, Banganapalli, Alphonso to name a few.

This initiative created a community for mango enthusiasts to get together and share their love for the fruit. I suddenly lost all the real world inhibitions and found myself chatting with people I didn’t even know. There was child like happiness on everyone’s faces while they were blissfully relishing their mangoes and discussing their childhood memories. The Ranga Shankara menu also featured mango kulfi, mango ice cream, mango sandwich, mango shake and lassi (buttermilk).

In my house, it’s almost a ritual with the onset of summers, crates and crates of mangoes arrive. And for days after that the women of the house are bustling with activity sorting, cleaning and trying out every possible mango recipe in town ensuring every part of the mango is used. In a house of predominantly Mysorepak and Laddu (South Indian Sweets) lovers we suddenly find ourselves dishing out the most exotic of desserts. The fridge is mysteriously stocked with aamrus, mango milkshake, mango ice cream, mango cheese cake, sweet mango pickle and everything the season brings with it.

At Ranga Shankara it was one Big Mango Party and very messy too!