In 1956 I struck a conversation with a British tourist in Bangalore.  We became friendly and .took some snaps. He wanted to know whether I note down the parameters of each shot such as distance, brightness, and speed, etc.. Surprised, getting a negative answer, posed a question of how the quality of each shot could be judged then. Here I find another contrast between us; we lack an analytical approach to anything we do.

Let's apply it to the making of booze, which had been in use in every country since ancient times. We had 'Somras'  in the hoary past. Due to our penchant for giving a spiritual twist to anything deviating from the normal it was termed as  'Amrita' -- Elixir or divine drink and drunk by priests and gods. The mood-lifting effect of the drink cannot hide the presence of psychoactive agents comparable with alcohol.  The secret of it is lost in antiquity. But 'sura' was there all along. Nobody tried to enhance the overall quality of the drink due to a lack of analysis at every successive step. We are governed by the rules of thumb always.   The westerners improved it into fine wine, whiskey, beer et al. And we die for it.