Bada Bubbly Life Hai!

Hasti apni habaab ki si hai
Ye numaish saraab ki si hai
-Mir Taqi Mir

This life of ours is bubble-like
A vast display mirage-like

No not getting maudlin and existential again, just that this sher has been eddying around in my head for the past few days. Simple because a substantial chunk of my time has been dedicated to creating bubbles.
It’s come back to me now that I used to spend inordinate lengths of time looking at bubbles on water, and other surfaces when I was really young and then the interest waned when life happened. And resurfaced quite acutely when I studied the laws of surface tension in (I think it was) Class 7. It was profoundly satisfying to have infanthood questions answered. Then of course more life happened.
Fast forward to last Sunday. Visit to Zoo after what seemed life a lifetime. Spotted a bubble-maker/contraption seller outside. Acquired one and also a bit of coaching from said seller. Came home and practiced blowing bubbles in a frenzy of fresh enthusiasm. Frightened Bashki instead of entertaining her. (Two-year-olds need time to work out their emotional responses; she is quite appreciative now).
Anyway, I was halfway through with the liquid provided when Sheetal asked me if I was wise to use it up so rapidly. I told her airily that I had the recipe from the seller and could always make up some more, but the seed of doubt had been sown. So I set about making some more, which as it happened was easier thought than done. I’ll list my attempts
1) Detergent and water - poohoosss, no good
2) Copious quantities of detergent and water - unstirrable after a point, not any better
3) Oil (the secret ingredient – or so I thought) added – an even more unyielding liquid

At which point, I began to doubt my good friend’s claim- “us me kuch tel aur soap dalte hai”. But adjuring myself not to be mataashed I persevered. Now such attempts as these were made-
1) Oil and detergent – singular lack of response
2) Add water? – whadya think?

I now perceived it was a matter of thermodynamics. The entire concoction was cast into the microwave- shrieks and recriminations from mother. No, of course I did not want to burn the house down. So I meekly took away my immiscible mixture and stirred vigorously in a bowl of boiling water. Well…
I need not tell you that I was now utterly downcast.
At this point, my kind sibling who hand held my hand through all of this (metaphorically of course! You do see that it’s impossible to do all that with one hand!) went off and bought me another brand new set from the Local Numaish. She had also managed to wrest the secret from the chap before he was dragged off by the security, for disturbing peace (I presume).
Chik shampoo! Good people, Chik shampoo! The one rupee sachet does the trick quite nicely. Emboldened by her success, the sister looked up advanced recipes on the net. Glycerine, we were told is particularly useful to enhance durability and strength of bubbles. That must have been what that unfortunate boy was trying to tell me at the zoo, instead of which he led me up the garden path with all his silly talk of ‘tel’. Hrmmph.
All’s well that bubbles well, I guess. We now possess three distinct liquids that offer us variety in size, flight and durability. Not so very bad, huh?