Adnan Siddiqui has penned a love letter for mangos.
“This post may cause readers to salivate and OD on mangoes,” wrote Siddiqui while sharing a video of himself, eating mangos on Instagram.
“As a kid, I looked forward to summers despite the punishing heat and lethargy the weather is notorious for. Minor inconveniences as this was also the season of the best creation by Nature: mango—undisputed emperor of fruits. Not just because of its divine taste, mangos and summers hold a special place in my heart as both always remind me of my Abba. May Allah grant him higher place in Jannah. Ameen,” he added.
Siddiqui went on to say: “Abba used to bring payti or carton of mangos and that was one day, none of us threw any tantrum at the dinner table because we knew a sweet bounty awaited us at the end of the meal. Right after finishing our food, we would hover around Abba, waiting for him to open the treasure chest. He would then gather all eight of us around him like mother hen, a huge bucket brimming with mangos in the centre. We would sit on the floor— a ritual reserved only for mangoes. Abba always believed that the fruit needs to be accorded due respect by cooling them in buckets filled with water and to be eaten, sitting cross legged on cold floor.”
“Once everyone had settled, he would roll up his sleeves: cue that showtime is about to begin. He would then start cutting the fruit, juice dripping from his wrists onto his kurta pajama, handing one piece after the other according to seniority. Of course, being the youngest, my turn came the last by when I would have reached the tail end of patience. One bite into the succulent, juicy, ripe mango and all the wait seemed worth it. We got up only after finishing the entire bucket. No one cared about sugar, calories, gaining weight. It was only about savouring the simple pleasures of eating mangos,” he continued.
“Such were those carefree days when you lived footloose and fancy free and ate with gay abandon.”
Siddiqui also asked his fans if they had any childhood story of mangos.
