Anwar Ratol of Pakistan is Chaunsa of India.
Mango lovers know that. But what many don't know is that Anwar Ratol has it's roots in a village Rataul (Baghoat district, Western UP)
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ndtv.com/india-news/why…
Mango lovers know that. But what many don't know is that Anwar Ratol has it's roots in a village Rataul (Baghoat district, Western UP)
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ndtv.com/india-news/why…
How can we be so sure?
The answer is simple - the oldest Ratol mango bearing tree still stands in this village that is just over hundred years old. This mango variety travelled all the way from a village Chause (Bihar) in the medieval era. The same place where
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The answer is simple - the oldest Ratol mango bearing tree still stands in this village that is just over hundred years old. This mango variety travelled all the way from a village Chause (Bihar) in the medieval era. The same place where
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Battle of Chausa (26th June, 1539 AD) was fought between Humayun and Shah Suri aka Sher.
Few years before partition a mango grower from Rataul migrated to Pakistan where he planted a sapling in the Pakistani part of Punjab and named the sprig "Anwar" - after his father.
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Few years before partition a mango grower from Rataul migrated to Pakistan where he planted a sapling in the Pakistani part of Punjab and named the sprig "Anwar" - after his father.
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Thus the name - Anwar Ratol (that travelled from Chausa, Bihar to Rataul, UP to Pakistani side of Punjab)
The "Mango Diplomacy" between India & Pakistan started with Zia-ul-Haq in 1981 when he visited India & brought with him "Anwar Ratol" from Bahawalpur as a present for
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The "Mango Diplomacy" between India & Pakistan started with Zia-ul-Haq in 1981 when he visited India & brought with him "Anwar Ratol" from Bahawalpur as a present for
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the then President Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy. But it soon sparked a controversy. The angry mango growers from Rataul (India) didn't like the Pakistani claim over a mango variety that was theirs'. They too presented a box of Rataul mangoes to the then PM Indira Gandhi.
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This was the beginning of what we call as "Mango Nationalism" in the sub-continent. It may sound absurd but one of the reasons for the fall out of Zia later in Pakistan was because of the controversy around the claim over Ratol mangoes.
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#mangoes #MangoDiplomacy #IndoPak
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#mangoes #MangoDiplomacy #IndoPak
Time and again such controversies come to the fore. But to the true mango lovers it does not really matter as long as they get to eat mangoes when the seasons arrive. And thoss who claim that they don't care because they are not fond of mangoes are to be pitied.
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Remember the 100 year old tree that I mentioned, the common progenitor of both the varieties was cut down earlier this week.
And it saddens me both as a history buff as well as a believer in the connect that the nature has created for us beyond territorial boundaries.
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And it saddens me both as a history buff as well as a believer in the connect that the nature has created for us beyond territorial boundaries.
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