Haji Kale-emullah Khan, the celebrated mango grower has named a special variety of mangoes grown in his orchard ‘Aishwarya Rai’ after the celebrated actress of Bollywood. Horticulturist Haji Khan has earned fame by growing 300 different varieties of mangoes on a single tree whose height is just about 10 feet. One of the five new varieties developed by him recently has been named after Aishwarya. The name was decided after his family member told him that the most graceful, slim mango resembled the Bollywood actress. Others were named after members of his family.
Khan recently told media that he began experimenting with hybridization of the mango crop on a single tree in 1987. The tree which is about 100 years old, has become a centre of pilgrimage for horticulturists in Maleehabad, east of Lucknow.
Among his most precious creations is a tree in the Mughal Garden at the Rashtrapati Bhavan flowering 54 varieties. The ten-foot tall tree, having six-foot-long roots, was dug out not with the help of axe or spade, but by water currents and transported from the orchard to Delhi in 1999 as a present to the then President, Khan said.
The craft developed by him has become a mystery for researchers and agriculturists from the country and abroad who have been left baffled by his work. The sexagenarian who also finds mention in Limca Book of records for growing the rare tree has the support of his sons in keeping the tradition alive.
Among his regular visitors is the Uttar Pradesh Governor T. V. Rajeshwar who had in 2006 named three of his varieties as Nayantara, Nargis and Jahanara, his son Nazimullah Khan said. Khan has also cultivated a new variety of all season flowering guava which on ripening grows as red as apple. He was even awarded Padma Shri by Government of India for his contribution to horticulture.
“The seeds of this obsession were sown in 1950s when a friend narrated the story of crossbred roses. That very moment the thought of experimenting with mangoes came to my mind,” he recalled. Acclaimed world over for his ‘madness’, Khan misses recognition of his worth on the home front.
“This happened with me from day one. No one bothered to laud me for my seven-in-one wonder,” said Kaleem. Even nature opposed and washed his efforts away. The patch of land which contained the premier trees turned into a marshland during the floods of 1960. “My daughters are the only admirers in the family,” he said.
