I have decided to weigh in on the ongoing conversation in Nairobi about chapati. First of all, may the Lord bless the person who invented chapati.
Even though it was once a delicacy reserved for special events like Christmas, other ordinary recipes have now caught up. Chapati has lost its esteemed place in the ranking of recipes.
For those unaware of the conversation, it revolves around a promise made by the current President of Kenya to help the Governor of Nairobi acquire a chapati-making machine capable of producing 1 million chapatis per day. Since the promise was made, the internet has nearly broken with all manner of memes and AI-generated images depicting the humorous nature of this promise.
Speaking of 1 million chapatis, I just wanted to help conceptualize that quantity and how it can be used as a unit of measurement.
Assume x to be a constant representing the diameter of a chapati. A standard chapati—especially one made by a machine—would typically have a 20 cm diameter.
Cumulatively, 1 million chapatis, each 20 cm in diameter, would have a total combined length of 20,000,000 cm. This is equivalent to 200 km of chapatis.
For conceptual modeling, this means you could lay 1 million chapatis back to back from Nairobi to Nakuru. If you were to use the Nairobi–Machakos route, you would need to make four trips to lay down all 1 million chapatis end to end without leaving any gaps between them.
Mathematically, 1km=5000 chapatis. You can now use chapati as SI units to calculate the distance you cover daily for work. I normally do a distance of 100,000 chapatis daily 😊
The conversation, which I feel has been taken out of context, has largely been fueled by the President’s reputation. Over time, he has been associated with making grand promises. Even when his intentions are good, online users view this particular promise as either misplaced or insignificant in light of the challenges Nairobi currently faces.
As I mentioned before, always strive to remain true to your identity and image, as these ultimately shape your reputation. When people perceive you in a certain way, they will always interpret everything you say through the lens of your established reputation.
It is not easy to build a good reputation unless you are genuinely good. If you are not, you may invest in all the brand management strategies available, but eventually, your true reputation will catch up with you.
For those unfamiliar with the 1 million chapatis story, you can look it up on Kenya’s mainstream media channels.