BENGALURU: Ranga Shankara will continue to host its annual mango party, but with a small twist. Going digital for the first time in 18 years, the event will feature a range of interactive activities that celebrate the king of fruits
What’s summer without some mangoes? And in order to celebrate the king of fruits, Ranga Shankara will be hosting the 18th edition of its annual ‘mango party’ on June 14 this year. But it’s going to be different this time. While getting the community together to savour different varieties of mangoes – as they normally would do – was not a possibility this year, they knew giving the party a complete miss wasn’t an option either. For the first time ever, the event will be going online and will include a range of interactive activities for all age groups.
This year, the event will include a storytelling competition, where children aged between five and six years send videos of their stories with mango themes. Two winning entries will be streamed on Ranga Shankara’s Facebook page. And since a mango party isn’t complete without some feasting, the event also called for submissions for mango recipes, wherein two final entries will be made by Anju Sudharshan, who runs the cafe at Ranga Shankara.
Videos of these will be uploaded on their Facebook page as well. The activities will take place in different time slots, with four intervals for a mango quiz in between. “This will be hosted by Arundhati Nag, M D Pallavi, Vivek Madan and Sihi Kahi Chandru,” says Samyuktha Manogaran, programme associate at Ranga Shankara. She adds that Kannada literary figures Jayanth Kaikini, Dundiraaj, Aparna and Jogi have written poems for the mango party, which they will recite during the online event.
The mango party will take place on Ranga Shankara’s Facebook page on June 14, 2pm onwards.
Down memory lane
Interestingly, the 18-year-old initiative is older than the popular theatre space, which has completed 15 years in the city. According to artistic director Surendranath, the idea began during the building phase of Ranga Shankara. “Except it wasn’t a party then. It was just some of us like Girish Karnad, M S Sathyu, Arundhati Nag and others sitting on the cement blocks and sharing mangoes,” says Surendranath. Recalling the event, Nag, who founded the theatre, fondly says, “We didn’t know we were creating history. But once the construction was completed, we didn’t have any workers to share the mangoes with so we decided to share it with our audience.” Eventually, music and other activities were added to the annual June event, inviting everyone from and beyond the theatre community. There was, however, one caveat to the entry. “The party is for everyone. But you had to bring 1kg of mangoes per head,” adds Surendranath.