With state agencies predicting a bumper mango crop this season, the favourite topic of Lucknowites is back. There is an eternal connection between the king of fruits and Awadh.It was not only relished by Nawabs but was a much-guarded and prized possession of their orchards. The city favourite Dussehri developed from the mother tree in Dussehri village of Kakori. The mango was never sold and the first fruit of the season was presented to the Nawab. A farmer’s tree was once even impounded in Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula’s reign so that its fruit did not fall in the hands of commoners.Another historical account also says that the trade of Dussehri first began in Awadh. The Dussehri belt of Lucknow was raised by Pathans who settled here towards the end of the Mughal period. Historian Yogesh Pravin says, “Each time Mirza Ghalib had to go to Kolkata from Delhi to collect his pension, he insisted to go via Lucknow so that he could eat Dussehri and other mangoes.”At present, Dussehri has a Geographical Indication tag and is a brand.Mangoes were also an important means to socialise for royal families. Those affluent held mango parties and new varieties were released and named.“I was told by my forefathers that Asl Mukarrar got its name in one such party. A guest said it kept true to the promise of being sweet and juicy. Another mango, Shamsul Asmar (shams is sun) was named so because its skin glistened like the sun,” says Haji Kalimullah.A repository of 1,300-odd mango varieties in the era of Nawabs, Malihabad’s mango wealth has been waning since. There are not more than 100 varieties here now. But that hasn’t made the growers and orchard owners in Lucknow’s mango belt bereft of the pride they take in their fabulous mango past. There are dozens of folklores on Malihabad’s mango history Chausa, another commercially viable variety of Malihabadi mangoes, is from Cheensa village in Sandila. A folklore goes that the tree was in a widow’s courtyard. Its fruit was bought by zamindars and the woman was given Rs 100. Hence, it was never marketed outside the town. It was only when a commoner laid his hands on one chausa fruit that it became popular outside Sandila.“A graft was brought to Malihabad and today almost every orchard has trees of chausa,” says orchard owner in Malihabad Naseeb Khan.Chausa, along with Banarasi Langda, was even exported to China in 2003 under a bilateral trade agreement when China agreed to import fruit and vegetables from India.The green Banarasi Langda, with its small seed and ample pulp, falls early due to a weak stalk. In Malihabad, it is plucked early but in Varanasi, it is protected from falling so that it is plucked late.Even Bangladesh has a greater demand for Langda than for Dussehri. Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah says, “Nawab Saadat Ali Khan had planted a mango tree bearing Langda in Banarasi Bagh which is now Lucknow’s zoological garden.”There’s also an interesting story behind the old Malihabadi variety of Johri Safeda. Josh Malihabadi’s great grandfather Fakir Mohammad Khan Goya had sent mangoes to the Nawab of Awadh, Naseeruddin Haider. The Nawab liked the taste so much that he gave pearls to Khan in return. The mango was so named Johari Safeda (meaning pearls of the jeweller).