Dosa, served with quality banter

Quarrel over masala dosa turns into a lesson on quality

My grandchildren generally do not quarrel with each other—not that they are special, but they are preoccupied with studies and hobbies, as demanded by their education system in the United States. When they are on vacation here, however, they are free to pick on trivia and argue it out. Unable to resolve their differences, they came running to me, spoiling my afternoon’s leisurely ponderings—which the wife calls a siesta.

What is quality—this time in a masala dosa—and where to go? One wants it crisp on one side and soft on the other, with spicy potato filling hidden inside in good measure. The other wants it paper-thin and folded into a cone, which you have to unsettle before discovering there is nothing inside. I would have eaten both but had an important task at hand.

“First”, I said, launching into an explanation, “you have to define quality—say, conforming to requirements. If your requirements are different, there cannot be a comparison between a motorcycle and a scooter, for example, to declare one better than the other. Now, ‘requirement’ is a vague term, so can we say ‘fitness for use’? Again, what was a means of simple transport became a pride of possession. You became a He-Man going about in a Harley. Conforming to specifications quantitatively became the byword in industry for several decades, with Joseph Juran guiding the world till recently on how to define quality.”

“It is simple, thatha; people should improve on inspection. Then how
can customers be dissatisfied?” they argued.

I said, “You do not improve quality by monitoring. It should be instilled at the starting point by choosing the right method and inculcating value for quality. Next time you go to that dosa place, you’ll see the server, carrying twenty-odd plates in his hand, all sizzling with identical dosas. Nobody in the kitchen supervises the cook and rejects bad ones; in fact, there are none. Inculcating the quality tenor is done much, much before the name board rises.”

The elder one, Sharada, now in university, has read Philip B Crosby’s Quality is Free and asked if quality is really free. I had to think.

If, between two people, one has to spend more money than the other to produce the same quality, it simply means he should not be in business. If your grade is, say, 8 in quality, do not accept 9 as a challenge; in fact, accept only 6. The customer is not a testing ground in your journey to excellence. Practise at home. This is what the quality gurus call process capability. I wanted to tell them the latest thinking in quality is not merely conforming to this or that but ensuring customer delight.

“Well, thatha, finally — where do we go for dosa?” Ganesh asked.

“Both restaurants give exactly what they promise,” I said. “We’ll eat at both — one each day.”