Summer is punctuated by roads carpeted yellow with the copper pod flowers. There’s another yellow that defines the season, other than the ever-present sun, of course. The fruit heralds the start of a new season and helps you survive the scorching summer with some sweetness to look forward to. Rows and rows of this golden yellow fruit decorates the streets, finds a nook on your kitchen counter and ends up on your plate, somehow for every meal. But now with the lockdown in place, how is chennai satiating its mango-ppetite? Is Banganapalli, considered to be the king of all mangoes and Chennai’s love affair, available in enough quantities in the markets?

chennai fruits Commission Agents Association President Srinivasan gives us the big picture. He breaks the bad news “Usually after april 14 (Tamil New Year) Koyambedu market gets 150 tonnes of Banganapalli every day. Now, we’ve been getting only 40 to 50 tonnes". Kannan adds, "While Banganapalli arrives from kerala, pollachi and palakkad areas in january and then from tenkasi, Theni and Periyakulam, once the new year begins, i.e. after april 14, the fruit comes only from Andhra Pradesh."

ASR Kannan, who runs Amman Kani Angadi in Koyambedu market, concurs. He explained “Every summer about 100 to 120 vehicles of small and big sizes drive into the market every day to unload tonnes of mangoes. This year only about 15 to 20 vehicles are coming. Shop owners are not interested to buy more since there’s only a small window to sell them". As per the tamilnadu government’s mandate for the lockdown, essential services like fruit and vegetable markets are allowed to function between 6 am and 1 pm daily. Kannan adds “Last year I bought one tonne of mangoes daily, now I’m buying only 100 kg”. Kannan adds, “All these fruits in which you peel off the skin like orange and sweet lime are selling well. people think it’s safer to consume such fruits than those you eat with the skin, like apple, mango, grapes, etc.”