my affair with mango

I've been living with mango all my life.

When we were kids we wait for the rains, so we can easily get them unnoticed by the owner! When younger and working in the laboratory, trying to be the 'scientist' i dreamed of, i also worked with mango. After transferring to another office, working on a different field, i was asked by my former boss, adviser and mentor (estranged?) to go back to graduate studies and work again on mango. And for several years from then on i have been chopping a lot of mango peels and discarding the flesh, green or ripe, whatever!

After graduation and another five years, and moving on to another field of research management, and having lots of difficulties with self-help studies, distance learning courses, etc. on Intellectual Property management, e.g. patents, utility models, trademarks, copyrights, geographic indications, etc., i intended to travel to one of the countries of my dream, Turkey. That is aside from Tibet, Egypt, Australia, Hawaii and Scotland. Now i focused on Turkey. The strategy i had is to present my paper on mango in a conference to be held there. To make the very long story very short, i was allowed to go and i am leaving 4 days from now...to fullfill my dream.

Mango is very good to me. I always have it with meals, even if a kilo costs 100 pesos. He is a bit naughty sometimes because unlike banana and tomato, he is not predictable. He is accompanying me make my dream to Turkey, meet my old friends from the postharvest community, feel like a real scientist again and professional. I am also very glad that i can easily switch profession, from IP management to postharvest physiologist. For richer or poorer, in sickness or in health, till death do us part.

Thank you MANGO!





























(Photo credits: green - Leony Artes; ripe - Rita de la Cruz)