With cities turning into concrete jungles, picking fresh fruits from an orchard feels like a luxury to our towny souls. On a recent drive to Chandernagore, My Kolkata stopped at an orchard on Mankundu Station Road to take a look at some fresh harvest.
As the city slowly gives way to greener landscapes, mango and litchi orchards begin to appear on the two sides of the narrow roads.
A bright yellow signboard hangs beneath towering mango trees, and behind it, jhuris are stacked with fresh fruit. Workers move about sorting the day's harvest and ushering passersby.
As you enter, a whiff of the sweet-scented gachhpaka mangoes hits you. “We don’t use carbide to ripen the fruits. These are all naturally ripened,” said a man carrying litchis to a weighing machine.
Nearby, a few men pack mangoes into crates and wicker baskets lined with newspaper, ready to be transported.
“We only have himsagar mangoes here. These mangoes are sold at a wholesale rate. If you go to the city bazars, these are sold for Rs 100-150 per kg. Here we sell for Rs 40-50 per kg,” said another worker, Babu.
Customers stopped by to pick up fruits on motorbikes and cars. “We live in Chandannagar, but we come here to buy mangoes every season. We generally buy 4-5kg of mangoes and litchis for the week,” said Mina Ghosh, picking mangoes from the basket.