Food for Thought

"Why throw the dog a bone when you've sucked all the juice out of it?"

I have no idea where that expression came from - it is possible that I may have made it up just now. I have often wondered about this though...

Where I grew up, we (the Mallus) used to have get-togethers quite often as a form of socialising and communing with "our own". The most popular parties were the braais (barbecues) because they were probably the easiest on the host. Different types of meat are marinated well in advance to be cooked later by the men. They would hover around the coal grill with a bottle of beer in one hand while attempting flip over a piece of meat with the other. The women prefered to socialise in the kitchen while chopping veggies for the salads. This very simple meal is often accompanied by freshly baked bread rolls from the local supermarket (Pick 'n Pay), mango pickle (Monate Achaar) and later, almost as a second course, a bowl of rice is offered with a curry (usually the spicy Kerala fish curry) and a veg side dish (usually green beans sauteed in coconut). Such an option means that the host doesn't have to slave over a variety of curries, which often take time to prepare, while at the same time provide in terms of quantity because it gets everyone involved in the preparation. The children do their part by making mashed potatoes (loaded with butter) or fixing paper plates onto the bamboo plates and serving soda. Dessert would usually be ice-cream (in the summer) or fruit salad with warm custard (in the winter). Man, how I miss those days...

Where was I? Oh yes, so at these braais, there would be a lot of bones because obviously there was a lot of meat. And I'd some times notice people really chew at the bones to squeeze out every juicy bit (I like this part too) and then...put it aside for the dog!!! What on earth is left on that bone that a dog could possibly enjoy chewing? Noticing that, I would often leave ample meat on my chicken bones to compensate, because in my mind, that simply does NOT count as wasting food! When you see that look of expectation in their eyes, inspired the lovely smell of meat sizzling on the coal grill, and you give them a bone that's been ground to dust by your teeth, saliva oozing from it - gosh, it breaks my heart.

Then I often wonder at how we may be doing that to other human beings. Raise their expectations very high only to grind it to dust later. Parents have expectations of children, and children have expectations of parents, husband of wife, boss of his subordinate, etc etc etc. The thing is, how far do we let this disappointment take over our lives? How much more simpler life would be if we could be like dogs. Their expectations of life never vary with experience like ours do. They never get beaten down. We could throw them a dry bone a million times but their expectations of us will always be for a juicy one. Their eyes will shine with hope and love. And even after the disappointment, when they discover nothing but ground bone dust, they give us this fleeting sad look and bounce over to give us another chance. I have never lived with a dog all my life - but I have always had people in my life who have. I learnt one of life's harshest lessons from man's best friend...