Of naturalist and mango lover

This is the Gerald whose brother Lawrence, of the Alexandria Quartet fame, wrote mostly incomprehensible, gloomy and profoundly depressing novels which had little or no appeal to my taste. Gerald, the younger, naturalist brother has a much keener eye for observation and a gift for translating his observations into compulsively readable prose.

In this description of the family's departure for the Greek island of Corfu, with a few well chosen phrases, he draws a quick sketch of his mother and siblings that etches their character indelibly in our mind.

"When we opened our luggage for Customs inspection, the contents of our bags were a fair indication of character and interests. Thus Margo's luggage contained a multitude of diaphanous garments, three books on slimming and a regiment of small bottles each containing some elixir guaranteed to cure acne. Leslie's case held a couple of roll-top pullovers and a pair of trousers which were wrapped around two revolvers an air pistol, a book called 'Be Your Own Gunsmith' and a large bottle of oil that leaked. Larry was accompanied by two trunks of books and a brief case containing his clothes. Mother's luggage was sensibly divided between clothes and various volumes on cooking and gardening. I traveled with only those items that I thought necessary to relieve the tedium of a long journey : four books on natural history, a butterfly net, a dog and a jam jar full of caterpillars all in imminent danger of turning into chrysalides."

With the same deft facility and his naturalist's eye Durrell crafts personalities for all the creatures that he comes across in his long pursuit of interesting animals. From Golden Bats to Pink Pigeons and from Magenpies to Colubuses, he introduces his readers to myriad creatures each with a unique even quirky personality. All this with a light turn of phrase that is ideally suited to whiling away a Ramadan afternoon!

On the note of Ramadan afternoons when Iftar assumes great importance I can recommend "Romance of the Mango" by Kusum Budhwar (pub : Penguin Books 2002). It was time that a biography was written for this delivery long regarded as the king of fruits. Ms. Budhwar writes of the history of the Mango and its travels overseas, its place in culture, art, handicraft and folklore concluding with unusual and delicious (I can vouch for that) recipes.

She regales us with mango trivia -- did you know that when Babur was contemplating helping the local leaders of northern Hindustan in their fight against Ibrahim Lodhi the inspiration for his decision to do so came in the form of mangoes. The Babur Nama recounts that in 1523 Babur prayed one day at dawn for a sign of victory in Hindustan. When his prayer ended and he sat down to breakfast the food presented to him was Mango "Murabba" -- half ripened mangoes preserved in honey. Since the tasty fruit grew in Hindustan, the emperor took it as a sign that he was being beckoned to that alluring country and of course the rest, as they say, is history.

There are many stories that tell of the fierce passion for mangoes that is attributed to Ghalib. A tip on how to inveigle a friend to part with a gift of mangoes the next time the season comes around may be taken from Ghalib's open invitation to the Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar. He had been invited to stroll with the Emperor in the mango orchard on a summer's evening during the mango season and the ripening fruit of some of the choicest varieties hung from the trees all around. The Emperor was talking about fine points of poetry as they walked but soon noticed that Ghalib's attention was wandering as he wistfully looked at each tree and the treasure of its boughs. Seeing him thus distracted the emperor inquired what was the reason for his soulful glances. Ghalib replied at once "Your Highness, it is said that on the stone of each mango is inscribed the name of the person it is meant for and I am wondering if I could see one that might have Ghalib written on it". The Emperor took the hint and sent the poet a basketful of the best varieties the very next day!

A Mango tree that walks with time, the largest mango tree in the world, the oldest, the most fruitful, the one with most different kinds grafted and growing on one tree and many others find their places in Ms. Budhwar's book.

Apparently the nutritional uses of the mango are many and one in particular caught my eye. In these days of the slim even cadaverous figure this remedy prescribed for the Princess Zebunnessa to help her gain weight is straight out of dieter heaven. The royal Hakim wrote "To fully benefit from the nutrients of a ripe mango it should be taken with milk. The sugar of the mango is supplemented by the healthful contents of the milk. This mixture helps in gaining weight. It can be taken three times a day : morning, noon and night. Four to five seers of milk and two scores of mangoes should be consumed daily for at least one month". Would that this formula led to weight loss rather than weight gain!

The royal mango has a more humble but nonetheless beloved home in the friendly folk songs of the Hills. Verrier Elwin and Shamrao Hilvale's translation of Folk Songs from the Maikal Hills, (pub : Oxford University Press 1944) has this little gem. Love and mangoes -- can one ask for more!

The dark shadows of the mango grove
What did you say to me
In the mango shadow
Take me away my love
And make me partner of your life.

Yasmeen Murshed is a full-time bookworn and a part-time educationist. She is also the founder of Scholastica School.