The Pizzazzy

It was my last weekend and I had lots of shopping to do. I have been having a difficult time in deciding what to get for everyone back home. I thought may be looking around in malls I can get some nice ideas, so we set out to Plaza Singapura.

Since mum is having a good time looking at the vegetable section of spacious malls I gave her a round of Carrefour. In India the newly coming up departmental stores like pulse, reliance retail are actually quite cramped compared to huge players here.

Once inside the mall, a typical rotten smell hit us. Excuse my use of adjective for the king of fruits Durian. And I told mum this is the fruit which is banned in the MRT and buses here. Durian with it’s typical smell is a fruit that you either love or hate. A week back when my team gave me a farewell party I was forced to try this fruit. Even before registering the taste the smell was so awful that my brain outrightly rejected the taste. I simply cannot understand how anyone can stand this fruit. I asked mum if she wanted to try it. And she made such a face which read how could you even dare to suggest it.

After we crossed the durian section, I got a look at another fruit which I had lost all hopes of ever trying before I left Singapore. Mangosteen, the queen of fruits were nicely lying in heaps. My happiness was sky high at that moment and I started picking up some in a bag. My mum couldn’t comprehend what all the excitement was about so I explained her how I have read about mangosteen and wanted to try them. But because they were out of season I was very disappointed. Durian is also out of season but the good people at Carrefour could still stock both the king and the queen of fruits.

After reaching home when I cracked open the mangosteen to reveal the white mushy fruit, mum was equally excited and said “ohh this is cow” and she was transported back to her childhood. Well, cow is what it is called in Manipuri and both of us finished the great tasting fruit. The fruit is aptly called Queen of fruits although why Durian the smelly one is called the king I don’t understand.

The mangosteen is a truly tropical fruit, once opened has a white fruit inside which is plum like in texture and sweet with a faint hint of acidity. This fruit is perfect when it comes to the taste with seeds which may or may not be present. You can read all about mangosteen at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangosteen.

Now when I want to compile a list of my favourite fruits definitely mangosteen steals the second place right below Mangoes and on top of yet another personal favorite, custard apple. And if you are anywhere in world where you can grab a mangosteen, I would personally recommend you to taste this exquisite fruit. And that’s not all, this sweetheart of a fruit comes with a lot of health benefits also.