Taste of summer!
by Avilash Roul



Somewhere in Batangas, Philippines. The crowded narrow sea beach has suddenly turned calm. The tide is receding and exposing the rocks. A few kingfishers are trying to settle their bodies with the help of their wings and focusing on agonized little fish trapped in the tide pools.

“Mango, mango, Indian mango….sweet…Indian mango”, sounds come from the private land adjacent to the beach. An elderly woman carrying a full mango basket made up of bamboo approaches us to sell her fruits.

Does she know that Asian Development Bank is having its annual general meeting (AGM) in Madrid, which will decide her future?

Like the mango-seller, there are millions who don’t know what the ADB is and what it's doing. I wonder what comes into the woman's mind after a day’s sale, when she can’t buy rice for her children? The rice is too costly for her nowadays. Even the primitive barter system can’t rescue her from her family's plight with mangos alone. But she is eager to sell her mangos to us. We're the only folks left in the coast, basking in the beach.

I was with my colleague Hemantha and we ate all the mangos we bought for two reasons. Undoubtedly, mangos are sweet and a little bit of sour. (Of course, it’s Indian!) We also knew that the woman had to sell all her mangos so that she will get the money for her rice without having to roam around the rest of the afternoon.

The mango is the apple of the tropics. This is the commonly eaten fruit in all tropical countries around the world. This is also called Maharaja (King) of fruit in India. The mango exists in two races, one from India and the other from the Philippines and Southeast Asia.

Unfortunately, mango trees are in deep trouble today, distressed just like the livelihood systems that depend on the fruit. The reason is the early flowering of mango trees. More and more, it seems that the mango trees' yellowish flowers are unable to sustain their annual rhythm due to increasingly erratic climatic patterns, which puts at risk the life support system that depends on the tree.

I am thinking how much we are contributing to climate change by flying to AGMs. Those who are attending most AGMs are officials from the US - today the largest emitter of green house gas (GHG) emissions. I am sure our friends will write in this space about their experiences in all those AGMs. But, I am leaving the issue to them to decide who is the largest emitter of criticizing ADB or GHGs in AGMs. I am just calculating that from Manila to Madrid to Manila via Bangkok - a person will emit 3.137 tons of CO2. Our Secretariat will emit 12.538 tons of CO2! So, we should be cautious in talking about the emissions by the large entourage of ADB for this AGM.

The Forum gang has already left for Madrid. And other friends are flocking together one by one in the venue in Madrid. Things will roll one after another till somebody toasts a sparkling wine glass to the President of ADB! Here is something to think about: if there is no flower, there will be no fruit. There will be no livelihood. Can we remember the face of the woman when we eat mango next time? Can we remember the face of the woman when a new fossil-fueled power plant is proposed?

Rain or shine, a mango is mine. And yours. We are eating mango, we will continue to eat mango. But the taste will not be the same!