#163 The Past Is A Foreign Country*

PolicyWTF:&#160;Learning Everyday From GST <br/><br/>This section looks at egregious public policies. Policies that make you go: WTF, Did that really happen?<br/><br/>- RSJ<br/><br/>Many years ago, I went out for dinner with a client in Paris. It was a nice restaurant. Soon, the wines started flowing, escargots were polished off and I was educated on the mother sauces of French cuisine. The lark was on the wing, the snail was on the thorn plate, the client was footing the bill, God was in his heaven, and all was right with the world etc. You get the picture. Then late (very late) into the evening, desserts were served. <br/><br/>And I was served pain perdu. It looked like French toast. It tasted like French toast. But here it sat staring at me as a dessert. For a moment I thought we had dined for so long that we had crossed over to breakfast. But no. This was still dinner time. And here was pain perdu. It was then I added French toast to my list of food items that are difficult to categorise. The Bombay falooda tops the list. For good reasons. After all, what is a falooda? Sevai ki kheer? Icecream? Basil seeds or sago pudding? Jelly with milk and syrup? There&#8217;s no answer. There cannot be any. <br/><br/>Except, <a href="https://news.mit.edu/2019/answer-life-universe-and-everything-sum-three-cubes-mathematics-0910">maybe it is 42</a>.<br/><br/>However, things have changed in the past few years. I have gotten the answer to such existential food queries of mine from an unlikely source.<br/><br/>GST.<br/><br/>The GST appellate authority for advance ruling (AAR) of various states has been a steady source of insights on this topic. I have learnt the difference between barfi and chocolate barfi &#8211; one is a sweet, the other a chocolate; what&#8217;s the essence of falooda &#8211; it is icecream, everything else is incidental; is paratha different from parotta &#8211; yes, big time; is 100% wheat paratha different from roti and khakra &#8211; of course, it is; are basundi and badam milk sweets or are they bevera