The Unfulfilled Urge to Suck a Mango to Its Stone - Mango Love - king of fruits
Mango is an undisputed King of fruits and a favourite of all young and old alike. Right from the time I can remember, my urge to take a whole mango in my own hands and suck it to its stone ( kernel), has never been fulfilled. Even today at 87 this urge remained as unsatiated as it was when I was just a few years old. During childhood whole mango wasn't given in my hand because while sucking it, I may spoil my shirt. I was given its small slices, that too my mother used to put small morsels of mango pulp into my mouth. This continued right upto my boyhood when I had to partake in the slices of mango one by one while eating it after my meals.
During my cadetship duration in Bombay, mangoes were served to us in our Mess Room in sliced form, and asking for the whole mango was not considered among the so-called good etiquette. The same was the case when I joined the Merchant Navy, where mango wasn't a regular part of the fruits served on the officers' menu on board. Here also if it was ever served it was in slices. After becoming a senior officer or even after reaching the top position, when mango was on the table, it was in nicely cut slices, to be eaten by scooping its juicy pulp with a spoon. Whenever I asked my serving steward to keep the mango in the fridge in my accommodation on board the ship, he would often keep the same in slices but without its stone. Once or twice when I instructed my steward to keep the whole mango without slicing it, he would appear right at the time with paring knives to help me slice the same and take away the stone. My urge to suck my mango right upto it's stone remained an urge only.
After I took my early retirement from my Merchant Navy Shipping company, I was hopeful of my whole mango mania getting fulfilled, but I hadn't realised the factor of my wife's right to share everything with me. Whenever I picked a whole mango for myself, she never forgot to remind me to share with her, which I could never refuse, so what if my whole mango to myself mania remains unfulfilled. But after her death, my son and his wife became too attentive towards me and my needs. They brought seasonal fruit including mangoes, they must have felt that I may like to have fruit whenever I felt the need for it they started keeping fruit including mango in season, in my refrigerator for me. Whenever I found the mango too large to be held in my now not so steady hands, I asked them to send me in sliced form. My whole mango sucking mania would have been really realised but for my, this urge has been superseded by the necessity of convenience while eating.
Written By
L.J.Singh
Retd Chief Engineer (IMS)
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