Doodh ka doodh , paani ka paani

I was working on a paper and sharing a piece about ‘experience marination’* to Jo and Vishal (fellow planners in JWT) and Jo got all excited about the word marinate. It did something to her, it made her imagine the process and decode all that I was saying instantly in that context. And we discussed something rather interesting, whenever we use a food related word to describe something non food, it invokes such strong associations that tere is instant understanding. For example just hear this…when I want to say that ‘I never said that, usne apna mirch masala lagake suna diya ‘ or when describing a person’s face ‘like a chusa hua aam’ or to describe a sexy babe using words like ‘teekhi/ karari , or when there is confusion of thoughts, khicdi bana di, or the proverbial icing on the cake, or tadka maarke. These are the immediate examples, I am sure if I think harder many more examples will pop up. The point is using food terms to describe is a great way to open up multiple associations and help visualize. Why is it so? Could be because food provides an intimate sensorial experience and hence has multiple associations that are strong.
So the next time you have trouble getting your point across, use a food related analogy…and catch the ‘aha’ gleam in their eye!


• refers to the pre, during and post time that we spend on an experience, its like marinating…hence the term experience marination