Cotton Candy!

Cotton candy is indelibly linked to childhood. When the vendor reached the building, he wooed the children like the Pied Piper of Hamelin! A glass cube container was slung across his back. It was stuffed with cotton-candy balls, all soft and fluffy, in a bright pink hue.  The moment he raised his voice and lowered the box, children materialized from all directions and surrounded him.

For a paltry price, the vendor pressed the cotton ball into an umbrella mold. And out emerged an umbrella-complete with ribs and hub. He deftly created a crown-tip for the umbrella, stuck a handle to it and handed it over to the eager child. For a few more paise, the vendor metamorphosed into an expert sculptor. Right in front of your eyes, the peacock was born- with its slender neck and sharp beak, and with a fan-like tail!

Children gobbled up the umbrella and peacock in a trice, happiness writ on the face! It was unclear what captivated the children more- whether it was the color, the texture, or the sweetness. Once in the mouth, it dissolved like sugary syrup, leaving you asking for more and more.

The wandering cotton candy hawker is no more.  His extinction was precipitated by a two-fold change.  Children stay arrested at home for most parts. In addition, parents suddenly raise fundamental questions centered on the hawker and his sense of hygiene.

But even these days, the festival season unfurls funfairs in the neighborhood. Families flock to the giant wheels and merry-go-rounds, the food stalls and gaming kiosks. Invariably, the biggest hit is the cotton-candy wala! In his new avatar, he has an added attraction. You can see cotton candy in the making- how the crimson-colored concoction is stretched and woven into fine cotton-candy strands and amalgamated into a full ball of candy-floss.

Children are drawn to the stall like iron-filing to a magnet. You can see the twinkle in the eye and the delight on the face as they hold onto the candy-balloon twice their size! And when they nibble at it, it’s not just the mouth that eats. The forehead and cheeks, ears and nose are all smeared a deep pink. By the time they finish, they are a mini cotton-candy themselves!

For all its simplicity, cotton-candy teaches us life lessons. It “looks” huge and bulbous. But the moment you compress it, the entire structure collapses into a tiny ball, that fits the hollow of the palm. Life throws us challenges from time to time. They loom large and you fear how you will tide over them. In the end, they are just like cotton candy- wisps of cotton that either fly away or dwarf to the size of a little candy nugget!