S for Super Mango

4

April 23, 2016 by Preeks

When I was small, there was a boy in my class. Let’s call him Super. (His real name is very close to this and I would not want this blog to pop up on Google when someone Googles him. So let’s leave it at Super.). 

Super was extraordinarily intelligent. I mean, the kind who went on to become a single digit IIT rank holder. Then, a 100 percentile in CAT. Maths Olympiad winner. Etc. You get the picture?

But I had recognized his intelligence far before the world did. He was the perfect boy in class. Always rank 1. Loved sports. Painted well too. Teacher’s pet. Hair combed neatly. Always in a good, neat uniform, with polished shoes. Friendly. Helpful. In other words, just about Perfect.

So, one summer, my Dad’s friend gifted us mangoes. I am a mango lover. I wait all year for the two months when I can suck these juicy delights and forget all the troubles in the world. I can eat mangoes in all forms – sweet, sour, juicy, hairy or whatever. 

But these mangoes that came home that summer? They were plucked in heaven. Larger than any mango I had ever seen and so sweet that the honey bee research team could spend their whole life trying to figure out the secret. And every bite was so, absolutely gorgeous. There wasn’t a single piece that wasn’t this sweet.

So, while gorging through one such mango, I paused and said, this is Perfect. In fact, I hereby name this mango Super. Because there is nothing, absolutely, nothing wrong with it.

And thus started the legacy of the Super Mango.

Year after year, every summer, Uncle would send us these perfect large mangoes and we would laugh that Super has come home. After referring to these mangoes as Super for nearly 10 years, we forgot it could have another, real name.

Last year, incidentally, I ran into Super at the airport. Not the mango, the man. He got married the same day I did. He is a hot shot consultant now. And he is doing quite well. Undoubtedly. But all I could think about while talking to him, was mangoes. I wondered, if he would have done better had he taken up franchisee of the Super mango. There was a clear future in it. I know it.

My Mom messaged me an hour back that this year’s Super Mangoes had arrived. I know they will be perfect, like the namesake.