I recently purchased a packet of instant dosa mix that promised to give me ‘10 pieces’ for breakfast. I thought it was interesting that the word ‘pieces’ was used, rather than the more sensible ‘dosas’, but forgave the brand for this blatant lie because the advertising industry has never been known for morality or a conscience. Naturally, when I prepared the actual dosas, I found that the ‘10 pieces’ were really two whole dosas. Maybe the implication was that the two dosas needed to be cut into smaller pieces so that ten toddlers could be adequately fed. The fault was obviously mine alone; I was unduly optimistic when I should have embraced realism instead.

This isn’t a rant about advertising though, because I have long accepted that as a wasted effort. Con artists with questionable intelligence need to make a living too, so why begrudge them the delusion that what they do is important for anyone? No, this is about what those dosas reminded me of.