Give me my bone

So there's this bone I am particularly fond of, I can suck on it until there's no semblance of juice left in it. Ever since I can remember the kitchen used to be our battleground and this piece of heavenly anatomy the prize for the victor, put on your best armor and pounce on it. Praise the heavens if there were a satisfactory number of pieces of the prize, if not, alas, be the envy of piercing eyes and salivating mouths!

If anything can turn me into a cannibal, then this is it! The bone marrow in that oh so delicious mutton curry. Growing up, mutton curry was always reserved for special occasions, unlike your usual chicken or beef or dukra maas. That piece of bone marrow would make even the laziest of girls to pick up the plate and hurry to the kitchen so that they'd be the first in line for the best of those bones.

It has been a long time since I have indulged and salivated on one of these bones. Unlike the mutton that's sold in Mangalore, we buy Lamb meat here, but that piece of bone is as succulent as ever and I always pick the packs which look like they have a few more bones! The ritual of eating is almost the same although not as tough here. The bone marrow flows much more smoothly over the tongue and is quite easy to suck on.

Back home, the ritual involved forks, the end of a spoon, toothpicks and pure pleasure. I spend a minimum of five minutes on each of these delicious things, making sure it is as dry as a bone when I'm done with it, soaking it back in the gravy and sucking the life out of that poor bone.

No wonder its called God's butter, to many more such bones in our lives!