The Parable of the Stinking BadCurry
A group of friends went to a restaurant attached
to a five-star hotel for a nice dinner. Unfortunately, they ended up having an
18-course meal, all of which was spoilt by a recurring presence of a single
BadCurry.
When they went back home, they told all their
friends and relatives about their taste of BadCurry.
A few of these friends leaked the matter to the
media.
The lousy stink of BadCurry was splashed around all over the
print media, TV Channels, etc.
The matter went all the way back to the hotel.
The age-old Chairman of the hotel refused to
believe that his hotel could have any stinking BadCurry. And refused to attend any
review meeting. The other members of the board of directors, obviously, had an
eye on the Chairman's position (at least in due course). At the same time, they
also wanted to ensure that other hotels in the city don't exploit their weakness
due to the stinking BadCurry.
Like the proverbial kingdom of yore where nobody
was willing to mention the fact that the King was wearing no clothes, most of
these board members "decided" that the BadCurry did not stink.
Again, like the small child in that very same
kingdom, the child of a board member (who was also an Executive member) ended up
shouting: "The BadCurry
stinks!
The media went gaga over it.
The board memers decided to hold a meeting. With
or without the Chairman.
And they reviewed the BadCurry.
After due deliberation, the members decided that
they'll listen to the sage advice of Orwellian elders, and decided that they'll
continue to maintain that the BadCurry
did not stink.
And promptly issued a press release stating that
the BadCurry
did not stink. And issued an internal circular that none of the board members or
others in the hotel should comment anything about the BadCurry - irrespective of whether or not
the BadCurry
stinks.
----------- ---------- --------- -----------
Sadly, the board members didn't realise that
whether the BadCurry
stinks or not depends on the BadCurry,
and not on the opinion of the board members.
The media, of course, is waiting with bated breath
for further stinks from the BadCurry.
----------- ---------- --------- -----------
Regards,
N