"You are enjoying your dosa Appa."
"Oh yeah, it is very tasty. It is a little spicy. You want to try some?"
"What is it?"
"It is lamb"
With a shocked expression and misty eyes, she asked "Are you eating a baby lamb?"
Totally unprepared for this question, I stuttered "No kanni, it is not a baby lamb... It is an old adult lamb."
"No, big one is a sheep. Lambs are babies."
"Anyway, it was already dead." I tried to console her.
"Amma, did you know that he is eating a baby lamb?" she continued in her accusing tone, almost crying.
By then I had lost my appetite and pushed my plate away "Sorry, I didn't know. I won't eat it again!"
Maybe the time has come for me to quit eating meat, I thought to myself. "But.. they are sooo tasty...", the part of me that grew up on meat whispered, "are you sure you want to give up?".