Little Hearts ..

“Chalo, I’ll open it!”

Ashwin looked up , he was exhausted trying to force open this new brand of biscuits.
Unlike the regular Bourbon or Parle-G biscuits this was packed in a air-filled plastic packet. Red , shiny and pumped up the plastic pillow was not ready to give up its contents easily.

“Ok catch!” he flung it to Manish who almost dropped it, only to grab it by the ear before it toppled from the balcony.

“That kari karadi*!” Manish cursed the P.T. Master, as he tried to rip the plastic apart with his fingers.

His favorite little finger nail was no longer there , the two inches that made such a huge difference in his life. ‘Chotu’ as he called fondly called it , was gone.

Just as knifes were prohibited on aircrafts , Chotu didn’t get past the spot hygiene check , led by P.T. Master Edwin alias kari karadi . What saved Manish was urgent nibbling manicure he had to conduct cut Chotu into shreds.

Chotu had been like a human Swiss army knife , be it digging for nuggets in his nose during a boring history class or morsels of food stuck between the tooth in the after lunch science class. Chotu had always handy, he would be missed.

“Fussssssh”, the packet popped open. Thats to the marked perforation on the edges, which gave in easily.


“Ashwin, Its open da…. !!”

“Areyee……! But it’s not full ! ”, Manish could not believe his fingers as they groped inside the red packet .

“Manish, see inside na properly” . Ashwin was beginning to get impatient

“Really its full air , only few biscuits “

They looked at each other , a rainbow of emotions , surprise, despair ,hope ,anger and accomplishment all at once. The rainbow lasted for about 10 long seconds.


“It’s ok da, come let’s try one” said Manish .

“ Macha, its six rupees da, we could have had three full packets of yummies !”

“Ashwin this is special man, like chotu , three small fingers nails can never add up to him.”


They grinned as they downed the ‘Little hearts’ .


Little hearts was a rage , when this new savory pastry was launched in 1993. One of the pioneers to pack foods in air-filled pouches , preserving the freshness. It won many little hearts due to a fantastic taste, but I know two kids who were really cross at first. One was me and one was Manish.

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*Kari Karadi – Black bear