A mango party

“Ok everyone, hurry up. We are getting late!” shouted papa from downstairs. The whole house seemed as if it had been hit by a hurricane. Everything was out of place and everyone screaming at the top of their lungs. Well, this was not the aftermath of a disaster but the aftermath of a call from my granny who just had an idea of having a family mango feast at her home. Nobody had an issue with that as this is the most special part of summer vacation; to make instant plans and enjoy them. However, there was one difficulty; getting ready within such a short time. Nevertheless, after approximately 15 to 20 minutes and a crazy war, everyone was ready to go. We all filled up in our car and headed to granny’s house. “Yehhh!” shouted everyone as we got out of the car and went into a small cottage of granny which had a very classy facade. Everyone exchanged greetings and pleasantries and settled down. All my uncles got into a group discussion and the main topic was the elections and who had win and who would lose. On the other hand, my aunts and my granny grouped together to do their favourite activity — gossip. Left were the children, who had disappeared as soon as they entered home, busy playing hide and seek. Everyone was engrossed in their own activities and then granny asked everyone to sit together. So everyone gathered in the dinning room and settled there. Granny and my aunt appeared from the kitchen holding platters full of mangoes cut into long slices and small pieces. As the mangoes got near the table, youngest amongst us, my fat little brother Shani cried with delight, “Oh granny! My mouth is watering”. Everyone smiled and seconded him while grabbing a slice of mango. As there are many different types of mangoes, everyone has his own favourite type of the fruit. And granny, keeping everyone’s taste in mind, had included almost every type of mango available in the market. Everyone was busy enjoying the first arrivals of mango season when suddenly granny called out from inside the kitchen, “There has been a thief inside the house and apparently the thief was really hungry.” We, in total confusion, tried to figure out what granny was saying. She came out of the kitchen with her hands on her waist and said knowingly, “And that thief, I would say is amongst us.” She winked at my mother and who instantly understood what granny meant. The only person who could have secretly taken mangoes from the kitchen before it was served was Shani. Mangoes have always been his favourite fruit. So we searched for Shani in the house. He was to be found nowhere. We were still looking for him when suddenly there was bang from under the takht. We stood next to the takht and pulled up the cover spread on it and found my chubby little brother with his hands and mouth covered by the pulp and his clothes all dirty. Shani’s cheeks turned red in embarrassment and shyly said, “Sorry, I was hungry and besides you all know mango is my favourite fruit”. Listening to this, everyone burst out laughing and thought, “Poor child! He cannot be blamed. After all, mango is the king of all fruits.” We all went back to the dinning room whereas Shani was with granny who was cutting mangoes and giving him more so that he could eat as much as he liked. Everyone had smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the summer mango feast.