Day 54 · Ninety Days of Runway · Pulse Beat
She went to Raju's kitchen and apologised, in person, standing among the steel vats. He listened with his arms folded. When she finished he said, "A hundred and ten portions." "Yes." "Do you know…
She went to Raju's kitchen and apologised, in person, standing among the steel vats.
He listened with his arms folded. When she finished he said, "A hundred and ten portions."
"Yes."
"Do you know what a hospital does with a hundred and ten portions of cooked food it cannot serve?" He did not wait. "It throws them away. And a woman I know in the ward says, the kitchen is wasteful again. And the administration says, why do we pay this man?"
"I'm sorry."
"I am not angry with you." He unfolded his arms. "I am angry with the machine for not telling me it was unsure."
She stood very still. He had put his finger on something she had missed for months.
"It should have said so," she said slowly. "It should have said: I think ninety, but the import looks strange."
"Yes." He nodded, once. "A cook who is unsure says so. I would trust a machine like that."
On the train home, Meera wrote in her notebook: Show confidence. Show doubt. Underneath, three times, Tell the truth about the numbers.