Stop not, till the last drop

When a spiritual guru says in his discourse that "an end is not really an end; it’s a new beginning", we can understand that the guru prepares us to the ultimate truth — the end of our life on earth. When a motivational speaker says, "In every end, there’s a new beginning," we know he or she refers to the new doors that can open for us when one door closes and thus injects a dose of positivity in us. But on getting married, when I first heard the words from my wife, ‘No dear, it’s not the end. It still has a long way to go,’ I shook my head in utter disbelief.

I once more looked at the metallic tube of tooth paste I held in my hands and told her, "I can’t understand what you’re talking about. Can’t you see this tooth paste is finished and I’ve to take the new paste that we’ve stocked in the kitchen?" My wife laughed and said, "It’s not the end of the tube. I repeat — it still has a long way to go. I challenge that we can use this tooth paste for a clear one more week."

The tube that I had was, as I far as I could see, clearly fully exhausted and only by a miracle one could extend its utility. So I picked up the gauntlet thrown at me and said, "I’m in for the challenge."

My wife picked up the depleted tooth paste, pressed the tube at a few strategic places and spread enough paste on my tooth brush. She repeated this exercise for the next three days and lo and behold, the paste flowed out of the tube. I still hoped to win the bet hands down with three more days to go. But over the following days, she started rolling the tube from the bottom (Day 5), applied force on the neck of the tube with a tong (Day 6) and unrolled the tube, placed it against a wall and flattened it (Day 7) applying uniform force starting from the bottom of the tube as if it had been placed inside a ten-tonne roller press. There was no shortage of tooth paste for both of us for a full week. She didn’t, however, use a hammer on any of these days over the tube, though at the end she went hammer and tongs over her success.

I might have lost the challenge and my wife did flatten my ego, but then, suddenly a sort of childish enthusiasm caught up on me. Now I told her, "With the knowledge gained on the principles of effectively handling a tube of tooth paste, I hope I can stretch its life still further."

"Go ahead," she said enthusiastically.

I filled the tube with water and restored its shape and used the residual solution that still tasted of and smelt of tooth paste, as mouth wash for a couple of times. Then I was reminded of funny experiments that we used to do in childhood, filling an empty tube of tooth paste with water and started reenacting them. At this point, my wife realised that the tube could boomerang on her virtually, and cautioned me to discard it immediately.

Even today, we extend this practice of extracting products to the last practically usable drop out of tubes, sachets, pockets other packs, bottles or cartridges.

So, the next time you visit our house and see us going crazy, battling it out with a tooth paste tube, sachet or other such packaging, don’t get scared or look down upon us condescendingly. Instead, try it yourself, if not for the economics, just for its addictive fun quotient. And, do remember to indemnify the author from any claims whatsoever resulting out of your unsafe manoeuvres in attempting such extravaganzas!