Why did the merciful God create the merciless Indian summer? This theological riddle has only one answer that I know: Mango. God rained heat so that mangoes could get sweeter and juicier. They could also be the answer to the current political dilemma. What to do in the face of the political heatwave that is sweeping across the country, from the Bay of Bengal to the Arabian sea? Have mangoes, of course. And read about mangoes, if you can.

And so I did this weekend, devouring a delicate selection of garden mangoes gifted by my friend Faheem Khan while reading Mangifera Indica: A Biography of the Mango, a magnificent book written by another friend, Sopan Joshi. Mango, he insists, “is to Indians what the weather is to the English. The more we talk about it, the more it becomes our mirror. When people talk about the mango, they end up revealing something about themselves. Our mangoes define us.”

So let me put my prejudices on the dining table. The part of Haryana where I was born and the corner of Rajasthan where I grew up produce no mango of any note. I like to picture myself, therefore, as a neutral umpire in the debates on best mangoes. In my considered judgement, Alphonso is the most overrated and overpriced mango. Accordingly, I have been the life president of the All India Anti Alfonso Association of India, waiting for its second member. To me, Safaida was created to cater to........

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