THIS IS TOO MUCH! Part 7 - The Ghee That Lasted Forever!
THIS IS TOO MUCH!
Part 7 - The Ghee That Lasted Forever!
When Showing Off Became a Competition 😂
Background & Purpose
Why do people keep expensive things?
Sometimes because they need them.
Sometimes because they enjoy them.
And sometimes...
because they want other people to know that they have them!
A beautiful sofa covered with plastic.
A dinner set that never sees a dinner table.
Expensive crockery displayed safely behind glass.
A costly watch that is mentioned more often than it is worn.
A luxury item purchased partly for its utility...
and partly for its visibility.
This episode of THIS IS TOO MUCH! explores the funny distance between:
Having something
and
Actually using it.
And what happens when showing off becomes a competition?
Well...
THIS IS TOO MUCH!
Opening Question
If you buy something expensive mainly to show people that you have it, how much of it do you actually need to use?
And if someone else starts showing off...
will you simply admire them?
Or will you try to out-show them?
The Great “Logical Lie” Competition
Once upon a time, a rather unusual competition was organised.
The challenge was not to tell the biggest lie.
That would have been too easy.
The contestants had to present:
The most imaginative, believable and logically justified statement.
In other words:
A lie with a certificate of explanation!
Three finalists reached the grand stage.
The judges were ready.
The audience was curious.
And the contestants were determined to prove that their imagination was superior to everyone else's.
Contestant No. 1
One Kilo for One Year!
The first contestant walked confidently to the microphone.
He announced:
"One of my relatives eats pure desi ghee every day."
The judges nodded.
Nothing unusual there.
Then he added:
"But they purchase only one kilogram of ghee for the entire year!"
The judges stopped writing.
One of them looked up.
"One kilogram?"
"Yes, sir."
"For the whole year?"
"Absolutely."
The chief judge leaned forward.
"How is that possible?"
The contestant smiled.
His answer was delivered with complete confidence.
"Very simple."
"Every chapati gets just one drop of ghee."
The judges nodded slowly.
He continued:
"Then they place another chapati on top."
"After that, they rotate the two chapatis together."
The judges looked confused.
The contestant explained:
"The smell of ghee spreads between them!"
Silence.
Then he concluded proudly:
"So everyone gets the experience of pure ghee!"
The judges looked at each other.
One quietly wrote:
Ghee: 1 kg
Experience: 365 days
Actual consumption: ???
😂
Contestant No. 2
The Ghee That Never Ends
The second contestant stepped forward.
He smiled confidently.
"Sir, that is nothing!"
The judges became alert.
Here we go again.
He announced:
"One of my relatives purchased one kilogram of ghee many years ago..."
The audience leaned forward.
"...and they are still using it every day!"
The judges were stunned.
"Still?"
"Yes!"
"How?"
The contestant calmly explained:
"They keep the ghee in a transparent glass bottle."
"Then?"
"Whenever they make chapatis, they take the bottle..."
The judges waited.
"...rotate the bottle once over each chapati..."
He paused dramatically.
"...and then serve it."
The chief judge blinked.
"So..."
"You mean the bottle is simply being rotated?"
"Exactly!"
"But where does the ghee go?"
The contestant smiled.
"Sir, that's not the important part."
😂
The judges were beginning to understand.
This competition was no longer about eating ghee.
It was about maintaining the appearance of eating ghee!
Contestant No. 3
The Ultimate Ghee Experience
The third contestant walked onto the stage.
He looked at the first two contestants.
Then smiled.
"Gentlemen..."
"You haven't even come close."
The judges sat up straight.
The audience became silent.
He continued:
"My relatives don't buy ghee at all."
The judges were stunned.
"What?"
"No ghee purchase?"
"Never."
"Yet they use ghee every day?"
"Absolutely!"
The judges were completely confused.
"How is that possible?"
The contestant pointed towards an imaginary dairy farm.
"They live near a dairy farm."
The judges waited.
He continued:
"And that dairy farm has plenty of ghee."
Someone in the audience whispered:
"Oh no..."
The judge asked:
"So they get the ghee from the dairy?"
"No."
"Do they buy it?"
"No."
"Do they borrow it?"
"No."
The judge was losing patience.
"Then how exactly do they use ghee?"
The contestant smiled triumphantly.
"After every chapati is baked..."
Pause.
"...they simply hold it up..."
Another pause.
"...turn towards the dairy..."
The audience was already laughing.
And then came the final explanation:
"...and show the chapati to the ghee!"
😂😂😂
The judges stared at him.
The contestant continued proudly:
"Then they bring it back and serve it."
At that point, nobody knew whether to laugh...
or award him the trophy immediately.
And the Winner Was...
The judges gathered for a private discussion.
They reviewed the three entries.
Contestant 1:
One drop of ghee → two chapatis → smell → satisfaction
Contestant 2:
One bottle of ghee → rotate → appearance → satisfaction
Contestant 3:
No ghee → show chapati towards dairy → satisfaction
The judges finally announced their decision.
The third contestant had won.
Not because his relatives had the most ghee...
but because they had achieved the ultimate form of ghee-based imagination! 😂
Ghee consumption: ZERO
Ghee visibility: 100%
Ghee confidence: INFINITE!
And the audience had only one conclusion:
THIS IS TOO MUCH!
Reflections
The story is obviously exaggerated for humour.
But behind the comedy lies a very real human tendency:
Sometimes appearance becomes more important than substance.
We may want people to believe that we:
- eat expensive food,
- own expensive things,
- live a luxurious lifestyle,
- possess knowledge,
- have achieved success,
- or belong to a particular social status.
And sometimes...
we spend more energy displaying the symbol than experiencing the reality.
The Psychology of Showing Off
Humans are social beings.
We don't only consume products.
We also communicate through them.
A possession can become a social signal.
The strange part is that the signal may gradually become more important than the actual utility.
The first contestant wanted people to experience the smell.
The second wanted people to see the bottle.
The third didn't even need the ghee!
He only needed the direction of the dairy farm! 😂
The progression is fascinating:
Product → Symbol → Appearance → Imagination
The Mathivation Connection
We can create a humorous equation:
Perceived Luxury ≠ Actual Consumption
And perhaps an even more interesting one:
Show-Off Value = Appearance − Actual Utility
When appearance becomes the dominant variable...
the object may stop being a product.
It becomes a performance.
The Ghee Scale
Let's measure our three contestants scientifically! 😂
Ghee = 0
but
Ghee Experience = ∞
Now that...
is THIS IS TOO MUCH!
Human Error of the Day
Confusing appearance with reality.
A glass bottle doesn't prove consumption.
A smell doesn't prove quantity.
And pointing a chapati towards a dairy farm...
definitely doesn't add ghee to it!
Takeaways
- Possession and utilisation are not the same thing.
- Appearance can sometimes become more important than substance.
- Social comparison can turn ordinary behaviour into competition.
- A symbol can communicate status - but it cannot replace actual utility.
- The more we compete to impress, the more absurd our behaviour can become.
- Good thinking asks: What is actually happening - not merely what appears to be happening?
Mathivation Note
Mathematics constantly teaches us to distinguish between:
Measurement
and
Perception.
If a bottle contains one kilogram of ghee...
rotating the bottle does not increase its quantity.
If a chapati is shown towards a dairy...
its ghee content does not magically change.
Therefore:
Appearance may influence perception, but perception does not alter measurement.
Reality remains reality - even when the presentation becomes extraordinary.
Mini Mathivation Challenge
Look around your surroundings.
Choose one object that is displayed mainly for appearance rather than everyday use.
Now ask:
What is its actual utility?
Then ask:
What message does its display communicate?
You may discover that sometimes...
we don't display things because we use them.
We use them because we want to be seen using them.
Disclaimer
This is a humorous fictional adaptation created for educational and reflective purposes. The characters, competition and situations are imaginary and are not intended to represent any particular individual, family, community or social group.
The article does not criticise people who purchase, display or enjoy expensive products. The discussion focuses on the broader human tendency to confuse appearance, social signalling and actual utility.
Psychological concepts are presented for general educational reflection and are not intended as clinical or professional advice.
Closing Note
The three contestants taught us something remarkable.
The first said:
"We use very little ghee."
The second said:
"We don't really need to use it."
The third finally declared:
"We don't need ghee at all!"
Yet all three wanted one thing:
The appearance of abundance.
Perhaps that is the real joke.
Sometimes we don't want the thing.
We want the story that the thing tells about us.
And when the story becomes more important than reality...
when one drop becomes a year's supply...
when an empty bottle becomes evidence...
and when a chapati merely needs to face the dairy...
there is only one possible verdict:
THIS IS TOO MUCH!
Curious Question
Have you ever seen a situation where the appearance of having something became more important than actually having or using it?
And an even more uncomfortable question:
Do we sometimes do the same thing ourselves - just in a different form?
With Mathivation, Humour & Human Understanding,
Rakesh Kushwaha
Founder, Mathivation Research Lab
"When appearance becomes more valuable than substance, even a chapati can become a luxury advertisement."
A Mathivation Research Lab Initiative
Comments
Post a Comment