One tree produces 300 types of mango!

The octogenarian Kaleemullah Khan gets up every day at dawn and then prays before walking for about two kilometers until he reaches his 120-year-old tree and over the years has made it produce more than 300 types of mangoes.

The man's steps accelerate as he approaches his tree, while the sparkle appears in his eyes.

When he gets close to it, he gazes closely at its branches through his glasses, then touches its leaves and smells its fruits to see if they are ripe.

"This is my reward after working hard for decades under the scorching sun," says the 82-year-old from his orchard in the small town of Melihabad.

He adds, "When you look at it, it looks just like a tree. But if you look at it, you will conclude that it is a tree, an orchard, and the largest mixture of mangoes in the world."

Khan was a teenager when he gave up his studies and began his first experiments in producing new types of mango by grafting or collecting different parts of the tree.

He succeeded in producing seven new types of mango in one tree, but it was uprooted as a result of a storm that hit the area.

Since 1987, a 120-year-old tree that produces 300 different types of mangoes, each with its own flavour, texture, color and size, has been a source of his happiness and pride, he says.

One of the first mangoes was named "Aishwarya" after Bollywood star and Miss World 1994 winner Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

This mango variety remains to this day one of the best mangoes he has ever produced.

Its nine-meter-high tree has a strong trunk with thick and broad branches that provide shade from the summer sun.

As for the leaves, they are a mixture of textures and odors. On some branches, they appear bright yellow, while others appear pale and dark green.

Khan explains: "Just as there are no two fingerprints alike in the world, the tree does not produce two identical types of mango," considering that "nature has endowed this fruit with characteristics similar to those of humans."

Khan's method of grafting is complicated by carefully cutting a branch of one type, leaving an open hole for a branch of another type, and wrapping it with tape.

"Remove the tape as soon as the branch becomes firm," he says, expressing the hope that "the new branch will be ready for the next season and produce a new type after two years."

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