DEDICATED TO GHALIB:

As the mango season begins, the city folk are happily enjoying mango parties. But this do was a little different from the usual. Organised at a girls’ college, the event brought together Urdu poets, intellectuals and mango lovers.

The evening was dedicated to the famous Urdu poet Ghalib and the various speakers expressed their views on Ghalib’s fondness for mangoes, how he liked to eat the fruit with missi roti and how the tradition of eating mangoes with missi roti dates back to the times of the Nawabs. The poets read couplets of Ghalib, receiving due daad from guests.

FINE DINE: Dada Saheb Phalke awardee Sharib Rudualvi, Anis Ansari and Anwar Jalalpuri spoke about the varieties and history of mangoes and the stories of fruit linked with the life of Ghalib.

“Around a decade back such events used to be a regular scene in the city’s social calendar letting people indulge in talks and debates and later feast on mangoes with missi roti, but now they are rare,” shared Khwaja Yunus, one of the organisers. After the poetry session, guests gorged on mangoes along with missi roti served with 12 different mouth-wa tering chutnies.

Some foreigners too were spotted at the event. Gabriella, a student from USA studying Urdu language in Lucknow, shared, “I am in love with Lucknow! I am making my mind to shift entirely to India.”

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Lucknow / Renu Singh, TNN / June 30th, 2014