Here's Another Story About Greed And Chocolates!

Most Indian kids have grown up by listening to stories told by grandparents and they are stories about great kings, evil witches, families, farmers and so on. 

You've most probably heard about the story on the Candy Jar. A monkey or a boy tries grabbing too many candies from the jar and dropping all of them inside. The story on greed? Of course you must have heard it, in some form of the other. 

So, here's my story, and it relates heavily to the current scene in India. I'm not a huge fan of every kind of chocolate out there but I like the occasional bite. So, there's this series of Chocolates that Nestle markets as the Quality Street. It's a collection of chocolates, toffees and candies. 

My sister and I had them when we were in England and they were quite common there. In India, Cadbury, dominates every brick and mortar store and so, we always had a small packet or a big box of Quality Streets when we had a generous relative or a friend coming from abroad. 

My sister and I have different chocolate tastes. And why shouldn't we. We hardly look like each other. Kidding. 

I personally love the chocolate strawberry delight and the orange delight. It's a thin chocolate coated mint and fruit flavoured chocolate that is sour and sweet to taste. I've been in love with Strawberry Delight since ages. My sister and I would occasionally squabble and leap at the last one. Life went on in its fast pace. In Jan 2017, my sister moved to the US for her education and I was the only warrior at home to conquer the Strawberry Delights. 

Let's quickly get back to November 2016. Honourable PM of India, Narendra Modiji, announced a Demonetisation drive and declared old Indian currencies of denominations 500 and 1000 to be invalid from a date in the future. 

And by January end, I requested a dear family friend of ours to bring me a packet of Quality Street. Quality Street packets are variable. Some may have 3 Tofees and 7 Candies, while some could have just 1. 

When I got my share of Quality Streets, all for me, it had 6 Strawberry Delights and 5 Orange Delights and I was delighted and pleasantly amused. 

I ate my favourite, the first day itself. And thought it'd keep the Delights secure at the bottom of the packet so my dear family wouldn't stumble and swallow those delicious pieces of fine chocolate. 

Life got busy, like it always does, and I totally forgot about my Sugar Love and didn't get that feeling of popping in a delight in my mouth every now and then, until a few days back. 

I decided to empty the packet and see how many delights I had left. And I was really happy to see atleast 10 of my favourite flavours still in stock for me to devour! I picked up my Strawberry Delight and took the wrapper off with a lot of ❤️. And I closed my eyes and sniffed the sour cream and strawberry essence before biting it. And when I moved for the bite, I almost spit it out! The chocolate had hardened! It was almost as hard as a rock! And I was shocked!

A quick trip to Google Revealed the Nougat inside the candy hardens in tropical climates and that pretty much explained why the candy was inedible! It upset me a bit, but it was an important message! I waited and waited, and hoarded the best chocolates of the lot, only to boast about having them all along, and in the process, I lost the ability to enjoy them. Had I eaten them, shared them with everyone, they could have made everyone else really happy! The good news is I still have 6 of them that aren't hard as a stone, but the time's definitely running out for them!

So, moral of the story : Hoarding and being greedy brought me to a point where I had nothing left anymore!

'Enjoy the little pleasures, as and when they come! Don't wait to celebrate everything together! You never know if, when or how you'd get to celebrate again!' In light of the demonetisation, it's pretty much the same story! Everyone who had money in cash (pretty much the way 80% of Indians dealt with transactions), suddenly couldn't do anything with the money anymore.

The bundles that were stashed away in #Swiss Banks and shady lockers, and the bundles of the hard working who only earned in cash and stored them for use whenever, suddenly became fuels for bonfires! The money that could have been used to go see the world, to help uplift lives, spent on luxuries suddenly became a liability people never foresaw!

Greed never does anyone any good. Maybe it is a beautiful feeling for a short while, but it never stays! There's a certain satisfaction in living the moment and postponing or holding back on those emotions or events rarely does anyone any good!

So, the story our grandparents told us when we were little, the one on candies and cookie jars, is truly an inspirational one for all of us in our lives!

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An Account Of Our First Dog, Kiara!

I was terribly missing my dear Kiara and so wish to share something I wrote about her.

My Dear Kiara. 

Today, 26th September, 2015, my dear Doberman Kiara left this world. She was a unique dog in every way I can remember. Here's some account of my Kiara and me.  

Kiara, was the name of Simba's daughter from Lion King of which I was an avid fan since I was a little boy. We brought home a Doberman to guard our home after nasty thieves broke into our garage and stole the car stereos. Seriously, just the stereos.

Kiara, was not much than a foot long and was as tall as two medium size pillows. She was a very cute puppy who came home one evening in a basket. We were new to having pet dogs and so we brought her in the living room. The first thing she did was went around the living room confused. Then, she nervously urinated on the marble floor and did the next big thing shortly. 

Grace was always her thing! 

Mom got very upset and insisted she be kept out of the house in the parking. So, we kept Kiara out of the home and she kept on barking for a while until she mostly fell asleep. The next morning, she was super fresh and jumping. She had completed her first night and was looking like a bright penny. She was so jumpy! I dare say more bouncing with excitement than a bouncing ball. She was literally waving her docked tail so vigorously that it could set of a million oscillations.

She quickly got used to our parking and that was where she spent majority of the time as she was brought in to be our guard. Kiara was very pretty. She had a soft yet shiny fur of moderately dense black hair. She had brown markings on her eyes and knuckles like a typical majestic doberman. 

Kiara loved to jump. She kept on growing in height and length but her jumping almost brought her to my height back then. I used to hold her hands and dance with her. "Let's dance with the Kiara" is what I would say. :)

Kiara was always always hungry. When she was very small, she ate from my childhood bowl of Thomas The Tank Engine. LAter on, she got her own elegant steel container that was double the capacity. Kiara loved to eat. She loved eating almost anything. She was fast at quickly grabbing plastic bags, rotten food etc. from the roads. At first, I would risk and put my hand in her mouth to remove the bag so that she would not even possibly choke. However, in the later years, I stopped taking those risks as she was showing signs of not altering her ways.

She was very unusual I felt. She was very calm. She was very loyal. She never barked unnecessarily. She was brave but not a showoff, unlike my Labrador :P. Kiara stayed loyal to us till the very end. She loved my father a lot. Rather, she first loved him the most. She would bounce on seeing him. As time passed, I began getting closer to her. She started loving me equally too. Not just me, but everyone. She was always there when you felt like patting someone. She would sit for hours and hours if you wanted her to. 

Since she wasn't the super aggressive type, we hired a trainer to train her some basics. She never changed her sweet personality but picked up a few tricks that she did till the end. She learnt to Sit, to Sleep, To Stay. To Walk with us. To Stop. To Not Eat Until Commanded and most importantly, to shake :P

Disney's Simba's Kiara!

Every dog eventually sits. But Kiara and I shook hands almost everyday... She was so cute that she tried to shake both her hands at the same time. She grew to be a pretty Doberman but never gained too many muscles. She was fit, but quite lean. We never let her free when she was a child because of our own fears and lack of dog handling knowhow. So, she was taken out on leash all the time. I personally feared letting her out on the road because was a terrific runner. She was super fast and though lean, pretty strong. 

Kiara would always stand up to face stray dogs if they began moving towards us. She was our protector. She barked at cats and other dogs but rarely at humans. However, she was always proactive and on the lookout for visitors. People were scared because of her mere presence. 

Kiara always barked when dad got home. She used to begin barking when my bus was round the corner or dad or mom's horn were audible over the horizon. She would be ready with her tiny tail and sharp eyes to great us. 

Kiara was very obedient and very humble. She was not a crybaby. She accepted the lifestyle we gave her. She loved us nevertheless. Giving dogs a bath is a pain in the neck. But, bathing Kiara was easier than bathing ourselves. She would bear the water, even though cold, and would patiently sit until we were done cleaning her. :)

She would then rub herself dry by jumping and vibrating about or occasionally scraping against the walls. She loved sun-bathing in the open sun. When she was very small, she was pretty destructive. Along with her regular pedigree, she actively munched two to three brooms and one to two buckets per week. She would bite them thoroughly leaving a mess each morning and this naturally incurred her wrath. 

She has taken a few beatings but she would never give up on us. She loved dad and mom even then. Maybe even more after that. After a few years, Kuki, the Labrador was brought home. Kiara was a great sister. She would never bother Kuki. Rather, Kuki would actively bother Kiara. She bit Kiara, pulled her chain, stole her food and what not. But, the two became close and got used to one another. In fact, I realised their proximity completely today.

Kiara meanwhile, developed tumors along her pelvic regions. We were worried initially as Kiara often fell very ill. But, she fought tumour and maintained her energy and passion till her last breath. At times, she could not even walk, but still, she was ready to fight it out. 

She was a fighter. She has fought so many incidences. Skin infections, hundreds of ticks, dogs, fever, tumours, plastic bags and even stones I think. Since Kuki was the newbie, we trained her better and she even found a naturally place in the home. But, Kiara was never trained that way. So, when she occasionally entered home, she would take a round tour that ended at the kitchen. She loved to eat as I'm repeating for the 4th time I think. 

Kiara has never ever bitten anyone in the family. She was so gentle that she even grabbed her biscuit elegantly and slowly. You could trust her with even your hand and she wouldn't do a thing. She was a fast eater and so even gulped Kuki's food very fast. She had a strange habit of eating anything. She ate flowers, leaves, potatoes, bark of trees and what not. Whatever she could manage, she ate. She maybe ate more roadside food than all the food in the world made by roadside vendors :P.

Oh well, that was my darling! :/