29th Mango Festival: All roads lead to Dilli Haat

Delhi Tourism organised the 29th Mango Festival for the lovers of the ‘King of Fruits’. A three-day festival which was held at Dilli Haat in Janakpuri started with great enthusiasm. Visitors were caught by surprise and awe by seeing mangoes camouflaged as bananas, guavas, watermelons and papaya, still retaining the intrinsic taste of a mango. Apart from the unique and traditional varieties of mangoes on display, there was sale of fresh mangoes and mango-based products like pickles, chutney, juice, jelly, aam-papad and jam. Over 500 different varieties of mangoes were displayed during the occasion. The festival showcased myriad mangoes like Hussanara & Kesar, to the exotic imports like Sensation & Toffee Mango.

As a part of the Festival, mango-eating competitions were also organised, where participants were given 3 kg of mangoes each that were to be consumed within three minutes. It drew a large participation and infused the crowd with thrill and excitement. In the mango-eating competition for women, a Sushma won the first prize for consuming a kilogram and 136 grams of mango pulp. The second prize was won by a Chanda, who managed to have 1.126 kg, with the third prize going to a Sunita Biswas for having finished 1.092 kg of mango pulp. Cash prizes worth ₹3000, ₹2000 and ₹1000 were won by the winners respectively.

The festival gave an opportunity to taste different varieties of mangoes like Neeleshwari, Sikri, Royal SP, Suwarn, Himsagar, Raddy Pasand, Banganpally, Kensington, Dushehari, Langda, Chausa, Malda, Neelam, Papitiyo, Langra, Kesar, Sensation, Nazuk Badab, Fazli, Amrapali, Tommy Atkins and Alphonso.

The event also witnessed other entertaining performances like a magic show by Dr Sangeeta Kapoor, a quiz on mangoes, a qawwali performance by Yousuf Khan Nizami and a cultural programme by the Punjabi Academy.

There are more than 1,365 mango varieties grown across the globe, and India cultivates around a 1,000 different types of the fruit. India is the largest exporter of mangoes, with an exporting quantity of over 50,000 tonnes. The main aim of the festival is to provide exposure to the domestic mango industry.