The Quality Curse
I seem to just want to write new stuff. It’s an extension of ‘do’, and in my world, ‘do’ has always been better than ‘not-do’. I guess I just like the unbridled possibility of the next sentence far more than the harsh constraints of the last one. This bodes well for volume, but not brilliantly for quality. And, unfortunately for me, it is this last which everyone is seeking. It's rare stuff, after all; like some sort of elixir for eternal youth. Perhaps, that is why everyone is chasing it. Eternal youth speaks to you of timelessness, durability. Rarity. I’m aware that I tread close to the same quality ruminations that Robert Pirsig gave voice to in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. At least that's what I can still recall from my last reading, circa 1993. I suspect that there were good reasons for his quality fixation -- especially if you take into account the poor man's diagnosis for schizophrenia and subsequent shock therapy treatment. But quality can a worthwhile obsession, since it is a concept which cuts to the quick of humanity. We always carry with us a notion of how good something is in relation to something else, and that something else is usually aligned with an abstract ideal which has the capacity to say more about us as people than a signature or a fingerprint. Take India for example. Like me, it has little trouble with volume, but quality continues to be elusive. I’m currently on my second set of bicycle tyres, fifth pair of inner tubes (and those are patched to within an inch of their lives) and second rear axel. The handlebar tape has gone, and the headset is already notched. That's after a thousand kilometers. The cycle of purchase, fix, fix again, and replace is so short here it makes your head spin. A mania for quality in the practical world…