Natural

Out one hot and humid day, I found myself in a sari-sari store trying to buy a Coke. They had run out. In fact they've run out of all drinks familiar to me. All they had was this Cobra drink that was supposed to boost my energy, or at least that was what it said so in their ads. So yeah, thirsty and without a choice I got to test this new drink.

Tindera handed  me a bottle and it felt cold in my hand, so I thought, perfect, just what I needed. But first the smell, just the smell and I feared the worst. But the Bear Grylls in me -- check that, parched and desperate for anything, I tried it anyway. But damn, that thing tastes nasty! So unreal. So unnatural.

But then again, after I had spat out the thing and tried to hanky the taste off from my mouth, I thought, and Coke is supposed to be natural? Hmmmm... I've been drinking Coke since I started school. So from age 6, I was a Coke drinker. But no, Coke is NOT natural. Just familiar.

Which brings me to another thought, it won't be too long now when instant pancit canton becomes "natural". And gone forever are the days, I fear, when boiling tamarind (sampaloc) to make a sour broth was the only way to make sinigang.