Mango Season

First few fruits of this season.  King of fruits is late this year. And few. I believe we get a good Mango harvest alternate years. This year must be lean. As a result the price is high and the fruits are beyond my reach. A dozen of good quality fruits cost about five hundred rupees and even if I make up my mind to buy, I will be anxious while cutting each one of them. Will it be rotten inside? Will it be sour? Will it be very fibrous? I usually do not get mangoes which confirm to my standards. If two fruits out of a dozen turn out bad it is nearly a hundred rupees down the drain. Taste of mango is not worth the tension. So I don’t buy. The mangos in the picture are on our table because of some good friends who have mango trees in their garden.  Good mangos and really good friends - if they could decide to part with these valuable fruits.  I have some more friends who have mango trees. If they remember me at the right time I may get a few more. I simply have to wait.

The other alternative is to pick up a stone and try to hit one of those on the tree. It is the roadside tree and every passerby has a right to them. No one will shout at me unless I hit the window pane of the house right next to the tree. But I hesitate to pick up a stone because of the following reasons.

First, the act of hitting a mango tree with stones is usually for five to fifteen year old boys and not for fifty five year old (almost senior) citizens. It will be very odd. Second, I am not sure of the quality of mangos and do not intend wasting efforts (which I can ill afford) on bad fruits. Third, I doubt if my eyes will be successful in picking the right fruits to fell. Fourth, even if my eyes pick the right one I am not sure if my hand can co ordinate with my eyes and heave a stone in the right direction. Fifth, even if they co ordinate and heave a stone in the right direction I am not sure if my shoulders co operate and  produce enough force for the stone to reach the fruit and dislocate it from the tree. Sixth, they may produce the force to dislocate the fruit but with the same force may dislocate themselves from their sockets thereby putting me out of all other actions for a few months.  All said and done it is better to act my age and just appreciate the sight rather than trying to taste and ending up with a bad taste.