India, July 4 -- Every summer, for a single afternoon, Dilli Haat in Janakpuri becomes the most democratic place in Delhi. You pay Rs 100. You sit down. And then you eat mangoes, as many as you want, for as long as you can. Men on one side, women on the other, and somewhere in between, the quiet, sticky, entirely serious business of eating India's most beloved fruit until you cannot eat any more. The 35th Annual Mango Festival 2026, inaugurated by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday, is many things. But the eating competition is the soul of the thing.

The festival runs at Dilli Haat, Janakpuri, from noon to 9 pm daily until July 5, and it is organised by the Delhi Tourism Department with a scale that the numbers alone cannot fully conve...