“I loved mangoes so much that once there weren’t enough for everyone at home. I sneaked away with two, hid behind a water tank, and started eating them. My elder brother caught me, and I got so frightened that I threw one away. Looking back, I realise just how fond I was of them,” says 60-year-old Anup Kumar Bajpai, laughing at the memory.

It has been decades since that mischievous afternoon, but his love for the fruit has only grown stronger.

Today, visitors to his home in Lucknow find themselves standing beneath a mango tree unlike any other. One branch bears Kesar, another produces Mallika, while others are laden with Dussehri, Neelam, Amrapali, and several more varieties. By the end of the season, the single tree yields 11 different kinds of mangoes, each with its own flavour, colour and aroma.

The tree has become a local attraction, drawing neighbours, friends, and gardening enthusiasts every summer. But for Anup, it is much more than an unusual gardening experiment. It is a reminder of the village where he spent his childhood holidays, of his father who introduced him to dozens of mango varieties, and of a dream he waited more than three decades to pursue.

After retiring on 31 March 2026 as an additional municipal commissioner with the Uttar Pradesh municipal administration, he finally found the time to devote himself fully to the passion that had stayed with him throughout his working life.

“I always knew that after retirement, I wanted to spend my time with trees. Government service kept me busy for 32 years, but somewhere in my mind I always wanted to return to nature,” he says.

Summers that smelt of mangoes

Although Anup was born in the village of Tikariya in Uttar Pradesh, he grew up largely in cities because of his father’s transferable government job.

His father served in the prison department, retiring as a jail superintendent in 1994, while his mother looked after their large family. He grew up with five siblings, but every summer, all roads led back to his village.

Those holidays became the happiest memories of his childhood.

“All our cousins would come to the village during the summer holidays. We spent our days climbing mango trees, plucking fruit, and eating it right there in the orchard. We never thought twice about getting dirty or spending the entire day outdoors. Looking back, those were some of the happiest days of my life,” he recalls.

Life in the city was very different.

There were no lush orchards, no afternoons spent under mango trees, and no endless supply of freshly plucked fruit. As school, college, and eventually work took over, visits to the village became less frequent, but the memories never left him.

“Whenever I thought of my childhood, I thought of those mango trees, and I missed them a lot,” he says.

The love for mangoes was something he inherited from his father.

Every summer, despite his demanding job, his father made it a point to return home carrying different varieties of mangoes from the market.

“He loved mangoes so much that he would easily eat nearly a kilo every day. He never brought home just one variety. He wanted all of us to taste different kinds of mangoes. That’s how my interest also grew,” he adds.

Years later, when Anup built his own house in Lucknow, one of the first things he did was plant two Dussehri mango saplings in the garden. At the time, he had no idea that one of those trees would one day carry 11 different varieties.

A promise to his father

The idea began to materialise after his father developed kidney-related health problems about five or six years ago. Doctors advised him to cut down drastically on mangoes and limit himself to just one fruit a day.

For someone who had spent a lifetime looking forward to mango season, the restriction was difficult.

“Seeing my father, who loved mangoes more than anyone else in the family, suddenly being told he could eat only one mango a day was painful. I wanted that one mango to be the very best,” he says.

By then, the Dussehri trees he........

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