Why don't you have a cup ice-cream?

“Why don’t you have a “cup ice-cream” instead?” When faced with this question from the parent, no 2-year-old has ever voted for the cup. There is something irresistible about a “cone ice-cream” that makes a child gravitate towards the cone naturally!

Soon, the child has the cone in hand, holding it like a trophy. It has two dollops of ice-cream, garnished with nuts, and topped with chocolate fudge! The child’s eyes light up as it raises the trophy to the lips.

It is not the tongue alone that licks the ice-cream. The nose craves for an equal share, and so do the cheeks and ears! While the child is busy licking, the parent buzzes over like a helicopter, scrutinizing keenly, to ensure there is maximum value for money and not a drop is wasted. “Be careful! The ice-cream is dripping from the other side!” The child makes the adjustment, but in doing so, tilts the cone. A few blobs trickle down and speckle the dress. “Why can’t you be a little attentive? The whole ice-cream is going to topple over very soon! That’s why I said, go for the cup ice-cream! Now, your dress is sticky, with ants and flies swarming all over!”

A cone ice-cream has some fundamental flaws in its design. The base of the cone is wrapped in paper for the fingers to get a better grip. In the ambient tropical heat, the cone gets soggy and soon, the paper and cone become indistinguishable. Each bite of ice-cream comes with an equal amount of paper!

These days, we have the “waffle cone”. It is not crafted as a single piece like the traditional cone. A waffle cone is a rectangular piece, folded in a triangle, with its edges sealed. As the ice-cream melts, it turns into a veritable Titanic in the ocean.  Slowly, but surely, ice-cream seeps through the edges, soaks the palm, and runs down the elbow! A leaking cone is deadly. There are too many holes to plug.

“Why can’t you put the whole thing in your mouth?” the parent frantically questions, unable to deal with the storm that is brewing. The child’s viewpoint is exactly the opposite. It wants to prolong the ice-cream experience. Who knows? The next ice-cream may be many moons away.

To deal with the leak, the child holds up the cone and licks off the base. It is a recipe for certain disaster. With the foundations weakened, the cone-ice-cream is like a dynamited skyscraper. It comes crashing down at the child’s face. It is a little too late!

All you can see are the beady eyes of the child, peering through the debris of cone-remnant and ice-cream. Oblivious to all this, child sticks the tongue out, licking off the last ice-cream droplets within its orbit!

The parent is all agitated as he clears the child’s face from the debris! “That’s why I say, always go for a “cup ice-cream”! Do you understand now?”

The child blinks back, the face caked with innocence, and the nose-tip capped with strawberry ice-cream!

 P.S: This essay is based on my uncle's description on this topic, earlier this week!