Skip to main content

What do you eat?

Ain't that a popular saying? And probably true too. What you eat, reflects on you in various manners. However, I want to share a different perspective on the food and the way it is served. Once again, the thought is borrowed and is being reproduced with my touch below. I would like to give away the credits to Mr Devdutt Pattnaik – a great thinker and a wonderful storyteller.

I was watching the Masterchef program and I was amazed at how the participants prepared the four course meal and also how they prepared the regional cuisine thali's. I started thinking the difference in the Thali and the four course meal. When a four course meal is served, the cutlery and the plates are laid out on the table. The chef or the server then brings out one course at a time and you are supposed to eat it using the utensils laid out in the manner from outside working towards in. You are expected to eat the served food with minimum alterations – adding salt or pepper. Every course is brought on after the previous one is finished and taken away.

Contrastingly, the thali is served with all the food served at once. Though the chef prepares different items in the thali with different recipe, you still have the liberty to pick and choose the items you want to eat in any order you wish. Not only you can eat different items in any order, you can also mix multiple items together to create a new flavor.

Analyzing the two different foods above, you see an example of controlled release wherein you control the way your product is utilized. The product is not customizable, but is easy to use and provides satisfaction even while controlling the user behavior. The other example is of a product which provides the features, but allows the users to customize itself and use it in any manner they wish. The customizability can lead to a situation wherein the originator can't even identify with the end product. Let's see if you can identify examples of both these kinds?

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flags and their meanings in Mahabharata

Last night I was telling the bedside story to the younger love of my life, when she asked – “How do you identify the leader of the troop in a war – particularly in a warzone where a lot of people are fighting against each other”? While I explained to her how the modern warfare works and how the generals lead the army today, I also imagined the warcraft of yesterday and started to describe the vivid imagination fueled by the magnanimity of the movies like Bahubali, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat. The job was simple as we both had watched the movies together. And she understood all that I told her. Yet a question from her made me fumble – Do all the warriors have a flag on their chariot, and what do they mean? In my research for the answer, I stumbled upon the information that I would like to share with you too. In the Viraat Parva of Mahabharata, Arjuna under the disguise of Brihannala plays the role of the charioteer for Prince Uttara of Virata kingdom. Under the condition
9 comments
Read more

Ganesha - Reviving the series - 10

The series cannot be completed without mentioning the reach of Lord Ganesha to cultures outside of India. In this last post for this year’s series, I shall try to present some more lesser known facts about the spread of the Lord Ganesha’s influence in Indian and non Indian cultures. During the early medieval period, both Jains and Buddhists incorporated Ganesh into their pantheon. The Ganesha cult thus travelled with the Mahayana Buddhism to distant lands, including Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Japan. Ganesha’s worship spread in all the regions rapidly. Manjangan ( Ganesha ) temple in  Bali ,  Indonesia Ganesha in Ta Prohm, Angkor For the Jains, Ganesha appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. The earliest reference to Ganesha in Jainism is in the Abhidhanacintamani of Hemachandra. It refers to several appelations of Lord Ganesha such as Herama, Ganavgnesa and Vinayaka and visualizes him as elephant headed, pot bellied
Post a Comment
Read more

Karwa Chauth - Why does moon rise so late?

I have often wondered as to why the moon rises late on the Karwa Chauth night. It’s probably because our hungry stomachs rebel and start cursing the moon instead of praying, that slows it down! Actually on a full moon day, the moon rises exactly at the time of sunset. The moon takes 27.3 days to travel once around the earth. This is also the next full moon day. To travel 360 degrees in 27.3 days, the moon moves approx. 13 degrees towards the east every day. Thus the moon rise increases by approx. 48 min per day in relation to the sunset. On the Karva Chauth day – 4 days after the full moon day, the moon rises 48*4 = 192 min (3 hrs and 12 min) after the sunset. Now please do notice the moon rise timings everyday and see the pattern!
1 comment
Read more