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| Ixelles, Brussels |
In the nineties, brands were a few in India and any food outside of home food was considered a luxury in our household. My sister however was a hardworking young woman. She was ambitious and also good at studies. She funded her own education by taking up all the teaching jobs she could in her free time. So, obviously, she had cash to spend on herself and on small luxuries too.
It was the time when an ice cream had become 'viral' on national television. It was all over the ads and in the shops around our home. The newly introduced cone ice cream was called 'King Cone'. It was truly the King because it had chocolate pieces sprinkled on the top, both vanilla and chocolate flavours in one cone and none of us had ever eaten such a treat. None of us had till then had access to a cone where you peel off the paper top, rip off the side and have it swirl downwards resembling in some way a dancer's skirt. All this was a new experience that our idiot box conveyed to our hungry, hopeful and greedy minds and eyes.
So imagine the bliss my sister was in when she actually was outside a store having just purchased this marvelous delight. She was with her friend and they both had a Kingcone ice cream in hand. My sister had just about started to enjoy her second bite and was breaking out into a huge smile, when our brother, just younger to her, passed by on his motorbike. Never the one to miss a golden opportunity, he did a quick U turn and was right in front of her and her prized possession. Damn!
Probably he had the money to buy himself a cone himself, but, of course the fun would be to get a free bite off a free ice cream. So our brother pleaded with my sister and she ignored him. She tried to savour the melting delicacy without being affected by him. Obviously this was not an easy task. From tongue to mouth to hand, every movement she made had him implore her for a piece. She was highly frustrated. She asked him to go away, he wouldn't. She asked him to not look, he kept at it. He was her annoying little brother after all.
Finally, she couldn't bear it anymore. When she was nearly at the bottom, with about three or four centimetres of cone remaining, she handed him the cone. In her head, what he was getting was nothing big. She would have preferred to eat that bit too, but he had won. She didn't have it in her to eat it all after all the pleading he had kept at. She was just convincing herself how she had been smart to not give up her ice cream earlier when he, popped the remaining cone into his mouth and crunched into something. She heard the crunch and saw his eyes widen with the happy surprise. He had the tiny bit of solid chocolate which was hidden at the bottom. She didn't know the cone had that in the end and he smiled a big smile like he had won the lottery. He quickly got onto his bike and started to ride away while thanking her. She felt cheated and frustrated. The bite he had taken left a bitter taste in her mouth.
