Helpings

Evidently, the author of today's quote was at a feast or an eatery where they ended up a victim of the servers' transparent attempt to give an impression of a lavish serving while actually skimping on portion sizes. And they decided to record their disgruntlement for posterity in exquisite verse.

Devanagari text:

भक्तं प्रतोलयति वज्रमिवामरेन्द्रः
शाकं समुद्धरति शल्यमिवास्थिलग्नम्|
क्वाथीं सुसैन्धवयुतां गलदाहकर्त्रीं
निर्मत्सरेण मनसा जलवद्ददाति||

Harvard-Kyoto transliteration:

bhaktaM pratolayati vajramivAmarendraH
zAkaM samuddharati zalyamivAsthilagnam|
kvAthIM susaindhavayutAM galadAhakartrIM
nirmatsareNa manasA jalavaddadAti||

– Anonymous

Loose translation: He scoops up rice with as much effort as the king of the gods exerts while lifting his thunderbolt, and doles out vegetables (sparingly) as if he were (cautiously) dislodging a pointed shaft from a bone. But the sauce – so heavily seasoned with rock salt that it causes the throat to burn – he pours out generously like water.

Source: Subhaashitaavali Verse 2358.

Notes:  A scholarly translation of this couplet by A. N. D. Haksar reads

He measures out rice

like Indra his diamonds,

and displays greens

like a barb from a bone,

but the sauce so spiced

that it burns the throat,

he serves most freely,
just like water.

The original makes no mention of the server's gender; I have chosen to use the male pronoun in deference to the above translator. Moreover, Haksar translates vajra (वज्र) as "diamond" rather than "thunderbolt" – indeed, both are primary meanings of the Sanskrit word vajra, and were perhaps thought to be identical!