Jalebi Uncoiled: 52. Vice is virtuous!

Monday, February 21, 2011

52. Vice is virtuous!

The institution of `vice chancellor' is one amongst multitudes of failed institutions in the public domain. Weakened on account of inept leadership, the office of vice chancellor in most universities has become a `big head' of opportunism, wickedness, corruption and politics! With a prefix `vice' attached to it, what better could have been expected? If nothing, it stands true to its prefix.

Appearing in English in the 13th century, `vice' is a habit considered immoral, depraved and/or degrading. Derived from the Latin word vitium, synonyms for vice include fault, sin, iniquity and infirmity. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a defect or merely a bad habit. No qualms therefore if the vice chancellors of the present genre fail to deliver. That is what they have been chosen for!

During a recent dinner hosted by the vice chancellor of a central university, guests were treated to cocktails by the generous host. Down to few pegs, the host wondered why one guest was without his share of a drink. `So, you don't have such vices,' quipped the vice chancellor. Much before the guest could react, the host went further, `no wonder, you are not a vice chancellor!'.

2 comments:

Vijay Rai said...: Thanks for the latest serving of Jalebi. It is interesting to learn about the apt pre-fix 'Vice'. Besides Chancellor, I wonder about 'Vice-presidents' and 'vice-chairmen', 'vice-principals'.

With so many vices around, are the scams brewing up due to them? It calls for a national movement to remove the 'vice' all together or at least replace them ..

I mean with another word like 'Deputy' or 'Additional' ...

-Vijay Rai; February 22, 2011 at 5:53 AM
Dr Harish Gena said...: Sir, thanks for making us knowing about the historical meaning of 'vice'. We should propagate the soul hidden in the word 'vice' to be replaced with other suitable, befitting and appropriate word instead.
regards
HG; February 22, 2011 at 10:08 PM

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The World of Jalebi

In 1870, Hobson-Jobson (a glossary of Anglo-Indian terms) specified that 'jelaubee' originates from the Arabic word zalabiya and the Persian word zalibiya and described it as 'a rich sweetmeat made of sugar and ghee, with a little flour, melted and trickled into a pan so as to form a kind of interlaced work, when baked.' Recipes for that original zalabiya have been found in West Asian cookbooks dating back to the 10th and 13th century, and ancient texts indicate that by the 15th century, the dish had made its journey from Persia to the tables of rich Indian merchants.

Meanwhile, this irresistible concoction seems to have travelled to other lands as well. In Lebanon, the sweetmeat is shaped like a finger rather than a swirl. In Afghanistan, it’s eaten alongside fish in the winter months. In Egypt, the Jewish community makes it to celebrate Hanukkah. It is a salutary reminder that food and language, arts and ideas, values and lifestyles are all products of give-and-take between the peoples of the world.

From The Golden Oldie by Shabnam Minwalla

Jalebi Management

Can the mouth-watering jalebi orchestrate global business? The uniform taste of the sweetmeat from its central form to its irregular extremities is worth imitating for any organisation's smooth functioning, says this book. "A jalebi connects at different fragile points to get bigger and bigger. The moral fibre in any country or any corporate culture can also grow when thought is not confined within the box,' writes Shombit Sengupta in Jalebi Management, a provocative out-of-the-box (sweet) management book based on critical social observation.