The quintessential juice

It had come in ripe from the village many miles away. It looked so big and inviting that I didn't have time to balk - I took a bite with an already salivating mouth, and another and another and another!

the quintessential juice of life is in eating your mango and loving it!

"Aah but this mango is sweet," I sighed, the succulence in my mouth bringing back memories of my first kiss, its juice forming and coursing down the corners of my mouth and soaking my goatee. It was the sweetest mango I had ever eaten, and I dare say the sweetest that there never shall be another just as sweet!

I couldn't help thinking how delicious and fulfilling the simpler things of life can be. It reminded me of the day a friend took me to a five-star hotel in town at which we spent Shs 400,000 on a meal, a meal that later gave me a stomach upset that shook me to the marrow.

It also reminded me of those Campus days of brokenness -- those days in Mitchell Hall, when you would rush to Wandegeya to buy that hot girl chips and chicken when you had just had beans and posho from the mess. And then you would punch walls in anger when she was gone.

This and the mango experience made me wonder how we Ugandans know how to put up appearances. And it makes me miss the daring days of high school when we would slam the detoothers, calling them ugly to their faces! We were bad boys because we didn't give a hoot, and we were loved for it!

But, oh, man, what happened? Why would one spend a million bucks on a mobile handset when you live in a two-room muzigo whose rent you struggle to pay? Why would you accept to be shamelessly ripped off in the name of a VIP ticket, all so you can create an impression that you've 'arrived'?

I guess it's one of those mysteries of life that we put up with superficiality even when we know it's more destructive than attractive. I've also observed that piling up riches after material riches is not guaranteed to bring you that most desired thing called contentment. That's why Kane, the protagonist of that fabulous movie, Citezen Kane has all the power and money in the world but dies longing for his boyhood sled.

Clearly, the quintessential juice of life is in eating your mango and loving it!