Mr. Gaurav Kapse will present his pre-synopsis as per the details below:

Date: 30th March 2026

Time: 09:00–10:30 AM (IST)

Venue: TP Room, IITB Monash Research Academy

Link: https://monash.zoom.us/j/85264541292?pwd=054sNKhOSpOrs56fAqlwWJ37Dxlc4b.1

Title: The Taste of Technology: How Reverse Osmosis reassembled taste in India

Guide: Prof. Pankaj Sekhsaria, Prof. Murali Sastry

RPC Members: Prof. Anand B. Rao, Prof. Mainak Majumder

Abstract:

This thesis uncovers the story of Reverse Osmosis (RO), a drinking water purification technology and its popularity in India. RO, one of the most popular desalination technologies worldwide, was invented to convert saline water into potable water. The thesis shows how reverse osmosis has expanded beyond its original territory of ‘desalination’ to become a daily necessity in Indian households. Indian users have accepted the technology either by installing RO purifiers in their kitchens or by directly buying RO water from private players. The RO technology has been in the news in India in recent years due to significant water waste and adverse health effects. The RO purifiers available in the Indian market operate at 40-60% efficiency. This means that around 400-600 millilitres are wasted for every litre of treated RO water. Also, during purification, essential minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and iron are removed in excess, which may result in very soft, ‘unhealthy’ drinking water. These purifiers are now used everywhere in India, even to treat municipal-supplied drinking water that has already been treated. As a result, the Indian government recently introduced a regulation to curb the indiscriminate use of this technology. Despite these issues with RO technology, what makes it a popular choice?

Through received wisdom, we know that a lack of proper water infrastructure and safety issues with water quality are always the reasons why users choose these household alternatives to public tap water. But my research in Shirpur, in the Indian state of Maharashtra, shows a different reality. It shows that more profound factors are at play, which make this technology popular. The choice and use of RO technology are driven more by users’ perceptions of taste and less by established water quality standards. I find that formal water quality standards and government infrastructural mechanisms are not the only criteria users consider significant. Users construct the meaning of ‘safety’ and ‘purity’ differently from the expert and the state.

The RO technology, by reducing the total dissolved solids in tap water, makes the water ‘low mineral’ and ‘soft’. The taste associated with ‘low-mineral’ and ‘soft’ water emerges as one of the crucial criteria for the success of RO technology. Users find the taste of RO water to be ‘sweet’ and ‘light’. The sweetness of RO water, as explained in this thesis, results from a process of sensory editing and a specific mineral arrangement by RO technology. The thesis, with grounded field stories and empirical evidence, demonstrates that the taste of RO water is an assemblage of multiple actors. The taste, as we commonly understand, turns out to be far more than a physiological phenomenon and goes beyond something that can be experienced only with the tongue. By framing taste at the trijunction of body, mind, and society, I explain its hybrid enactment in the daily lives of RO users in Shirpur. This thesis, by showing an alternative route through ‘taste’, contributes to a better understanding of the popularity and prominence of RO technology in India.