The Death of Chocolate

Chocolate, that sweet addiction, liked by people of all ages and across borders, touted as an aphrodisiac, glorified as a sacred offering in the old Americas, valued as a currency in some eras and a key ingredient in the beverages industry, may well be a memory come 2 October, 2020, by which date the world’s chocolate manufacturers will see the supply of cocoa come to dwindling halt.

Did your heart miss a beat at the announcement of this bittersweet meltdown? Not just chocoholics but also parents and grandparents, kindergarten teachers and dentists must have sat up in horror at this apocalyptic statement! How could chocolate survive more than 2000 years, first as a beverage and then as a confection, become hugely popular, only to join the ranks of the species that are approaching extinction?

I’m laying the blame squarely at the door of the chocolate companies who keep dreaming up newer, more delectable confectioneries to tease our taste buds. 

And what do we tell our children, when we have no foil wrapped chocolate bars to quieten a tantrum?

How many times have we bargained with kids for good behavior, with the promise of a chocolate? 

How often do we try to sugar-coat a painful experience with a sweet indulgence?

Or dig in to a mouthful of chewy goodness for a chocolate high?

Only last week in the playground at school, the little ladies had set up their 'mud kitchen' and needed someone to play daddy. They pleaded with one of the boys pedaling in the yard ,"You be a daddy and go to the market on your scooter!" When he refused and went his merry way, one girl followed him to whisper this hard to resist offer,"If you play daddy, I’ll give you a chocolate!" Needless to say , he succumbed- there’s not many who can resist the lure of this sinfully intoxicating addiction.

"Death by Chocolate" - been there, done that....but the Death of chocolate is something I don't want to believe will happen.

How do we explain Mahatma Gandhi on Gandhi Jayanthi to children in a playschool? He is honoured most importantly for his practice of non- violent resistance, which finds a resonance even today, in struggles that people have against unjust governments the world over.

But for the 3 and 4 year old's for whom even yesterday can be a long time ago, these events are hard to comprehend. We try to tell the kids about his humility , his service to the marginalised and his ability to GIVE!

Well, that’s the new buzz word- givitism. Activism with an emphasis on gifting -as when we celebrate October 2 to 8 as the Joy of Giving week in India; as in the experiment in generosity by Karma Kitchen or Jon Bon Jovi’s Soul Kitchen,where there are no prices on the menu card; or the 'sospesso' ( suspended coffee) where a cup of coffee is paid for in advance, as an anonymous act of charity; or as seen in this cartoon by Ruth Krauss & Maurice Sendak, where you are surprised by, not the dream catcher, but the dream giver!

So we tell the little ones in kindergarten to give away a smile, a hug, love, cause it comes right back to you. We’re celebrating the Mahatma and his life by giving- to show compassion and empathy, to get people to support and encourage one another and  to remind you – life is beautiful.