Best Before!

 Representative Picture

Himalayan salt is a rock that has existed for , what , a million years ; maybe 10 million. It has been there for a very long long time time, let's say. Yet when you go and buy some at the grocery store , the box it comes in shows a best before date. Usually about two years from the packaging date. How in the blazes does that happen ? It can not be right! Right? It did not expire for millions of years but it will  now that I have bought it! This sounds like a con , or does it?

I can understand this for bread. It will go stale and eventually develop mould and fungus. Milk will also spoil after a certain time, even in a refrigerator . Usually If we can not finish it in good time we  curdle it and make cottage cheese or warm it, stir in two spoonful of yogurt and let it set  in a warm environment. It soon becomes yogurt. Of course you know how this is done. I am not explaining the cheese making process using lemon juice or white vinegar. So you can re purpose it ; but no matter whatever you do, it  no longer remains  milk.

Apparently everything in the world has an expiry date. Don't be alarmed  but the entire life in this world is also going to end.... in a billion years! As solar warming will evaporate oceans and make any life  impossible to exist. In about 5 billion years the planet earth will be entirely engulfed by  the sun. 

Imperial house of Japan is the longest ruling dynasty. It  has been ruling for about 1500 years. Pandyan dynasty in south India also ruled for 1500 years and is historically considered the longest ever world wide, to rule . Roman empire ruled for about 1400 years. There are other long duration rules too.  They are all gracing the pages of history books.  Japan is an exception currently; albeit their role is largely ceremonial. Actual power has expired long ago.

Can you really imagine Nazi Germany actually Planned  Tausendjähriges Reich;  1,000 - year rule. And we all know it  expired in 1945 after a mere 12 years. Despots usually are narcissists and vice versa. They refuse to see beyond their nose. They can not even imagine that they can ever be wrong and  are in fact just insufferable! Trump is thankfully limited to two terms other wise he thinks so highly of himself and his administration that the insolent twit actually demanded ; repeat demanded a Nobel prize. When it did not materialize; he somehow conned or arm twisted the Venezuela's leader of the opposition to gift her Nobel prize medal to him. It is the same Venezuela that Trump had invaded earlier in the week. Trump is a certifiable Megalomaniac indeed!

Mamta Banerjee is quite a character. It was not a small thing to wrest power from an entrenched communist regime of Jyoti basu. She started life as a crusader against corruption and successfully took over Bengal 15 years ago. A bit like kejriwal in Delhi against Shiela dixit's corruption.

Corruption has an expiry date? Apparently honesty has one! Just like kejriwal lost badly in feb.2025 on corruption charges ; Mamta lost on 4 th may this year, mainly on corruption and matters of public safety. It was such a come down for the poster boy and poster girl of virtue , fairness and honesty! They both went down by brazenly condoning massive corruption and lawlessness . According to person's in the know they themselves became corruption  personified indeed.

We have seen it before so many times. Narcissistic despots never learn. They are so full of their own BS that it no longer smells to them. Hitler never believed he was losing the war till the last day as the victorious Soviet army tanks rolled into Berlin. He had to shoot himself to save himself the indignity of being captured alive .

Last time Trump lost, he became incredulous in the extreme. He claimed a stolen election and egged on his supporters to invade Washington DC. People are still facing legal consequences for acting impulsively and immaturely to Trump's advice. He of course is back in office creating more chaos in other parts of the world!

Kejriwal was stunned by the scale of his defeat  in Delhi. He refused to look at his fault lines; his endemic corruption and his massive bribe taking in the liquor scam. He simply shrugged accountability and  blamed defeat to the misinformation and propaganda of BJP!

Mamta is not an exception. Her acute sense of entitlement refuses to look in the mirror. She was running a mafia, not a government. In Bengal one could not even get their own house white washed without paying a bribe. Usually one had to engage an 'approved'  contractor suggested by the local trinamool party enforcer or else! People were scared to even speak out. She could jail unbothered; a cartoonist for his cartoon; a professor for sharing a tweet; a journalist.......

Mamta did not read the label. Her expiry date was long before 4th of May 2026. She had already putrefied and was stinking to hell. 4th May was  Bengal's garbage collection day and People junked her.  She was not planning to lose;  but her time was up! There are indications I think; that she can re purpose herself into a  nasty little nuisance but she is not getting back her crown  quickly. I think never; the opportunity She had was completely missed and misused by her. It has expired. Mamta  beyond her best before date is useless! This defeat will effectively end her political saga.

Before you point it out let me preempt you! Yes; pure honey does not expire. It has an indefinite shelf life. Properly stored and sealed honey jars have survived thousands of years without spoiling! Nature is amazing really!

No! I have not forgotten about our rock salt question. You see rock salt is like love. Eternal, unconditional and forever. Sadly life is not. It ages and degenerates. health matters, social, financial, and familial conditions constrain  and deteriorate it inexorably. One reaches an age where very little can be held up, much less the massive responsibilities of love! 

I found out that the rock salt does not expire; the carton it is packed in does. With age it starts degrading and contaminating the product it holds. Whole package has to be thrown out if not used in time. Honey for that matter is not indestructible either. You let it  loose and not cared for....... It too will spoil in  quick time !

What it teaches us that everything  in life has a best before date. Life itself has a best before date. Timing is everything. You  do the right thing;  on time or regret it forever! The voters of Bengal hit the nail right on the head! First chance they got! Good for them!