‘Climbing the Mango Trees’ A Memoir of a Childhood in India
By Madhur Jaffrey. Alfred A Knopf. New York. Hardback 320 pages.
Reviewed by Mahadev Desai

Madhur Jaffrey

strict, imperious grandfather, whose evening relaxation consisted of hookah (hubble-bubble water pipe), whiskey and soda. The family lived in a sprawling house, by the Yamuna River in Delhi. The walled compound had fruit orchards, vast lawns, a badminton court, a tennis court, a vegetable garden and a cowshed. The extended family got together every night and feasted on a big variety of mouth-watering dishes that were imprinted on Madhur’s palate. The family, though Hindu, embraced both Muslim and English traditions. Their home was a haven for India’s leading singers and musicians who entertained Delhi’s music-loving glitterati into early hours of the morning. Madhur, the self-described bespectacled tomboy, in boy’s shorts climbed mango trees, sliced green and raw mangoes, dipped them in a mixture of spices and shared them with her siblings and cousins. From her cousin Rajesh, she learnt to shoot, fish and swim. When she was 2, her father, Dadaji, became Manager of family owned Ghee (clarified butter) factory in Kanpur, so Madhur’s older sisters Lalit and Kamal attended St.Mary’s Convent school there, and later Madhur also joined them. At school their lunch was delivered in a four-tiered tiffin carrier. They sat on benches and ate their lunch at the tables. They traveled frequently between Kanpur and Delhi but after nine years in Kanpur, the family except Madhur’s sisters, returned to Delhi in 1944 for good. Her dad later worked in a Sugar Mill and later in a Madhur had to switch schools in both Kanpur and Delhi and grapple with Hindi and English mediums of instructions. She also learnt to knit and sew, but she enjoyed painting, dancing (Bharatanatyam) and acting the most. She felt elated when she acted as Titania, Queen of the Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The Independence, partition and influx of Punjabi refugees into Delhi are momentous events described in later part of her memoirs. The joy of Independence was marred by the wrenching partition of India.” It was an unbearable time of hardheaded black and white, them and us.” “…the newly formed boundaries cut right through the middle of farms, villages, rivers and homes. A wail went up from the nation.” In the aftermath of horrendous massacre of Hindus and Muslims,” Delhi as we knew it ceased to exist. Its vibrant Hindu-Muslim culture, its nuanced rules of etiquette, its unfailing politeness and its unique sense of hospitality began to fade away.” Punjabi immigrants introduced Punjabi food like paneer dishes, tandoori food, and dairy products like phirni, yogurt and lassi. The dhabas (Punjabi origin) served popular staple food like chana bhatura.
There were some minor cracks in the joint family. Initially, she liked her uncle Shibbudada because he entertained the children a lot but later she disliked him when he ignored his wife Taiji and his own children. Her rebellious nature resented patriarchal domination, and sibling rivalries in the extended family, and felt bereft when her brothers, or sisters or dad were absent from home for long periods. Her memoirs are suffused with descriptions of flavorful dishes, and exotic fruits, that she relished on festivals like Holi, Diwali, Karvachauth,or when picnicking in Delhi or on the hillsides, or when vacationing in hill stations like Shimla;or during lavish weddings. She also sampled diverse regional food from lunchboxes of her Muslim, Sikh, and Jain class-mates. At the end of her absorbing memoirs, she reflects,” Births, deaths,illnesses,caste and creed had woven their way through the flavors like tenacious creepers, and yet, somewhere in my depths, each bite, each taste of all I had eaten, lay catalogued in some pristine file, ready to be drawn up when the time was ripe.” Soon after reaching London, she began requesting her mother for her recipes. And loving mother soon obliged!
She waxes lyrical when describing the arrival of monsoon rains.”We all rushed to the veranda and began to inhale that anticipated smell of freshly wet earth,the one that Indians have tried to capturein an attar called,rather simply,”earth”(mitti).”
Climbing the Mango Trees is both an enormously appealing account of an unusual childhood and a testament to the power of food to evoke memory. The book carries rare family photographs and a treat for the readers-about 30 of her time-tested choice recipes!
Queen of England has honored Madhur Jaffrey with Commander of the British Empire Award for her services to drama and the promotion of Indian food and culture.
Madhur Jaffrey is the author of many previous cookbooks, including the classic An Invitation to Indian Cooking and Madhur Jaffrey’s Taste of the Far East, which was voted Best International Cookbook and Book of the Year for 1993 by the James Beard Foundation. She is also an award-winning actress with numerous major motion pictures to her credit. She lives in New York City.