Pani Puri spelt with a capital ‘Pee’

The recent video of a Pani Puri wala peeing in the same vessel used for serving customers has created quite an upheaval. There are pictures and videos of the act everywhere. The article published in TOI reports that when the ‘guy in question’ was arrested; in his defense he said that there was no other place for him to relieve himself - therefore the vessel.

This incident must have grossed out a lot of people.

Some may have been grossed out to the extent of not trying Pani Puri ever from a street side vendor, or to the extent of not trying any street food ever, or even to the extent of not eating any outside food ever.

But the worry is, that apart from grossing people out, this incident has also exposed the lowest form of violation of ‘trust’ that one places on another individual.

When one buys a product or a service in exchange of money – how can one be sure that the product/service  one is buying is not adulterated or is not of low quality vis-à-vis the price one is paying for it?

How does one find the trade-off between ‘the many good things that money can buy; like food as in this case’ AND ‘the few things that money cannot buy; like Trust’

Can anyone ever equate these two factors?

The answer, after this Pani Puri incident, is NO.

The realization that the so called phenomenon as ‘honoring one’s trust’ cannot be expected by default (with or without a cost attached to it) - is shattering.

Imagine for a second, if it was possible to attach a price to 'ensuring that the trust bestowed upon another individual is honored'- even then, would there have been any way of confirming whether the trust was indeed honored unless the person in question is captured on camera conducting otherwise or owns up himself/herself?

Going back to the same Pani Puri incident, say if people decided to pay one rupee extra over and above the regular cost to the Pani Puri fellow for not peeing in the vessel used to serve customers- who could guarantee that he has indeed not peed in the vessel unless he himself claims otherwise.
If the act had not been captured on camera –the Pani Puri fellow would have continued to serve Paani Puri with some added flavor of his piss to his customers without anyone realizing it.

Well, the fact remains that there is no limit to the extent of external policing one can do to ensure everything is just the way it is supposed to be but the final responsibility always lies with the person who is supposed to act – however, the sad part is that we seem to have forgotten this responsibilty.

Anyways, my sincere sympathies are with those people who cannot do without a tangy and spicy plate of Pani Puri coming straight out of the road side vendor’s stall.

As for me, thankfully enough, I have never liked Pani Puri much. But I cannot claim the same for a lot of other things. So until the next person is caught on camera doing something as preposterous as our “Pee-ep-li Live” hero who rose to stardom overnight - I shall pretend that I am safe!!