A little slice of heaven...

Image courtesy: Sommai on freedigitalphotos.net

Spring is in the air with a fairly strong whiff of summer...the skies are awash with the flaming orange of blooming gulmohars and supermarkets are flooded with the golden yellow of the king of fruits. There is something so appealing about the mango that I am always attracted to the mango section. Yesterday, I got a bag of small, round Alphonsos. After lunch I sat down to peel them, the way my ammumma (grandmother) had taught me.

Out came a sharp knife and I deftly flicked off the top. Then carefully and painstakingly I started knifing, slipping the blade ever so delicately under the golden yellow skin, while holding the little fruit firmly, yet not so firmly lest I squish it. With the peel completely off and the mango slipping and slithering in my hands, by now smothered in syrupy yellow goo, I sliced off one whole side, and proceeded to cut it up into tidy, sometimes sloppy, little squares. By then, everyone around was in a frenzy, raring to bite into those luscious pieces of heaven :)

But last night, after a long warm day, I was tired. The mangoes were beckoning tantalisingly and I simply couldn't go through the whole peeling, slicing, squaring rigmarole. Then the spouse walked in, took a knife, sliced off a whole side, took a teaspoon and scooped out a spoonful of yummy! Hmmm...that was easy...

In my younger days, we used to get mangoes from the lady who came around selling them in a coir basket perched on her head. Whenever I would see the tiny mound of mangoes bobbing up and down, from beyond the brick wall, over the tops of the blooming bougainvilleas, I would get super excited. The mango lady was here! While ammumma would frown the lady into picking out only the best of mangoes, we children would wait impatiently behind her. My all time favourite was one called 'kappa manga.' I don't know its English name and I don't even know whether that's a real name or one that we used. Anyways, with tough, dark green skin, this was one whopper of a mango...the McMango of mangoes. Eating it was super fun!

You first hold it in your hands and squish it gently. I would sometimes even pummel it softly against the wall, until I could feel the insides become all soft and mushy. But while pummelling, you have to take good care not to break the skin. Finally, once you can feel the squishy yummyness inside, you slice open the top and suck into it and your whole mouth explodes in a burst of heavenly pulp and juice! Needless to say, it was one super messy process with mango juice slathered all over your face and neck. I guess that was the whole fun part of it ...

I haven't ever seen those mangoes again, but where ever I have gone, I have been lucky to have my own little slice of heaven, whether it's a Banganapalli, Badami, Chaunsa, Neelam or Alphonso...what's your mango story?