Boiled Eggs

Boiled eggs used to be one of my favourites.  At Ahmedabad, right opposite the main gate of IIM, there were many street vendors selling tea and snacks.  One of them used to sell boiled eggs.  He used to cut the boiled egg into four pieces, sprinkle salt and pepper and serve it hot.  We used to have it as evening snack. 

After I shifted to Tumkur, one day I felt like having boiled eggs and I decided to prepare it at home.  I bought three eggs from a nearby shop.  I took the first one.  There was some dirt on the egg.  So, I decided to clean it before boiling.  I found the dirt to be a bit tough, which did not go in the first wash.  I applied a bit more pressure; the result was obvious – the egg broke.  Though I was feeling bad, I thought I have two more.  I took the second one.  This time I was very careful – I washed the egg gently and kept it near the kitchen sink.  Then I went in search of a pan for boiling water.  When I took the pan and turned towards the sink, I was shocked to see the egg rolling over and falling into the sink!  The second one was also gone.  There is a concept called diminishing marginal utility in economics.  But in my case, the inventory was diminishing, and the utility was yet to be enjoyed.  In fact, the perceived utility, that is the desire to have boiled egg was exponentially increasing!

Now, I turned to the third one.  (Was the egg looking at me with a naughty smile?)  This time I didn’t want to make any mistake.  So, I first kept the pan with water on the stove for boiling, took the egg carefully, washed it gently and proceeded to the pan.  The water was already boiling.  I slowly released the egg into the boiling water.  The egg went straight and hit the bottom of the pan and broke!!