Buridan's Ass

I didnt know that donkeys had any analytical skills until I heard about Buridan's ass, which refers to a philosophical paradox. It states that a donkey placed exactly between two stacks of hay of equal size and quality will continuously evaluate its options and ultimately starve to death. That reminds me of computers running into infinite loops, but it also happens to us on several occasions. Only, we use the more acceptable euphemism of analysis paralysis. Now, more than ever, we are susceptible to this lunacy.

Every time I go shopping, I feel like an ass myself. The men's section usually spans an entire floor, and it sounds mighty stupid to pick up the first shirt I like without checking what else is out there. But by the time I have surveyed the entire section, I am only more confused. And its too late now to simply pick up my first choice because choice is always relative and never absolute. So I am running 2x2 matrices in my head comparing looks, price, brands and what not. And a clear winner is extremely rare. In the best case, I am too confused to choose so I drop everything and walk out of the store. Worst case, I pick up something as a compromise and then keep second guessing my choice until I reach home.

The proliferation of shopping malls and supermarkets has made matters worse. Not only do we have more choices for what we need (toothpaste, soap etc), we are also introduced to newer stuff that we dont need. So the process of buying has become inefficient and, more often than not, we buy stuff only to regret later. I remember the days when grocery shopping simply meant going to the neighborhood kirana store with a list of items - toothpaste, refined oil etc. Brands were mentioned sometimes, not out of loyalty but convenience, for a brand name always represented the category - Sunsilk meant shampoo and Surf meant detergent. Neither did the storeowner have the shelf space to stock multiple brands nor was the consumer adventurous enough to try something new. But the best part was the efficiency - it took hardly 10 minutes to buy provisions for the month despite having to manually add up the purchases. Sometimes, I had to wait an additional 5 or 10 minutes because of the rush, and that felt like an eternity. Now, I dont even blink after spending 5 hours at a Big Bazaar.