Shaitans & Biryani

The Shaitan wakes up, having a thought- "Feeling damn bored and hungry. Let's go for biryani" and passes this to his fellow Shaitan via text or phone, seldom does a Shaitan has biryani all alone. Simple though it might sound, but for an average Nawabi Shaitan, it's a big plan to finally get to that plate of Biryani, which can make even the noblest of humans into a scavenging Shaitan.

The first hurdle is in the form of who's gonna pick who. Both the Shaitan's have their own steeds of steel in their stables, but also a greater amount of lazy evil attitude. But the impending hunger for the biryani overpowers the evil and one of the Shaitan agrees to give in. The battle is not won by the other Shaitan, as the previous one is out of something which is undoubtedly the most influential commodity of a young Shaitan- Petrol. Curse might he, for the lack of it in the other Shaitan's steed, but the larger interest gives way for such petty issues.

All is not well. Steeds have been mounted, but the destination is not an easy decision. You've got Paradise, Garden, Hyderabad House, Alpha, Bawarchi, Niagara, Sohail, Kababish, Cafe Bahar, Basra Cafe, Shadaab, the list is endless. There goes a flood of inquiry calls asking for the best joint. The discussion turns out to be a matter of National Debate, each Shaitan pitching his own stand, pushing his favorite joint as in the Best of National Interests. In the meanwhile, this inquiry sparks the hunger in the minds of the noblemen. As said before, they are no longer noble after they hear the word "Biryani", saddling up their own steeds without even the thought of having a second thought.

Just as you are now beginning to think, all is now well, not so soon. Who's gonna ride the steed? Who's gonna shell out the moolah? Who's gonna ride back home? Well, all these for the sake of just one thing- Biryani.

p.s.- The Cheif Shaitans involved in the above narration, at any given time- Mrunal Rao, Anand Raj, Kalyan Chakravarthy, Kartic, Mukesh, Praveen, TASK force etc. And, the list of restaurants are not exhaustive. My apologies, if I have missed out any Shaitan's particularly favorite joints.

Anger Management

Anger, seems to be the most important of all the emotions that has to be expressed out in a balanced way. Express it too early, you are tagged "Short Tempered". Express it too late, you cause more damage than a terrorist. The former makes people move around you with constant caution, who rely on your face for the signs of outburst and act accordingly. With the latter, you trip him off the first time, the face fools you with a decent smile. The innocent victims unknowingly gets comfortable with this smile and trips the same person off a couple of times more, until one fine day when they get shot point-blank; from the same face that smiled all these days. The recovery of the victims from the first kind is almost instantaneous, while it's with the second kind that leaves a deep crater on both sides.
On the positive side, this emotion in it's most balance form has pushed an individual in various forms- warriors, athletes, artists, etc., from the abyssal depths of defeat to dizzy heights of victory, etching their names in the pages of history, forever. Yet, the same anger has forced these very individuals to the other side of the fulcrum to take the most hasty decisions in a split second which would throw them again in the same pages of history, this time on those which nobody wish to turn back.
The Shaitan always rides on the waves of this emotion, New moon or Full moon, here the tides are always rising high. This new found sport has been pumping adrenaline in full doses but rarely being productive. There has not been a single "No surfing day" in the past few months as the Shaitan has almost been addicted to this sport. The catalysts for him can be anybody and anything. Shaitan has realized that he's been wasting valuable energy for the wrong reasons, but the "Shaitani" attitude refuses to leave him,no matter what.

Mercury Dip

After the past couple of cold months, the weather seems to give respite to all of us over here. Each day it's getting warmer, more comfortable. But the weather within is getting colder with each passing week. No longer interested in special occasions, parties seem to be more of nuisance rather than a time to unwind, mood swings faster and wider than a pendulum, personal fence has not increased in height or diameter, but normal wood was replaced by an electric one, electrocuting even the most casual trespasser.
The shaitan is seen less often at the kharkhana, which does not mean that he's busy with his own life out of the kharkhana, but feels that the less often he spends time away from the kharkhana, the more colder he is, within.

Scars

Memory seems to be the hardest forged piece of steel. Some of them might gather rust over time and instead of making them weak, they become more lethal with each passing day.

At a usual day of work at our store where we sell furniture, all we do each day is to woo customers with our offers, catchy phrases, "Never before, Never again" deals; so that the more we sell, the more we get paid by our boss. Mr. Joseph, a tall man wearing a black cowboy hat walks in with his three daughters ten minutes before closing time. He asks me for a "best mattress available" and I show him a couple of them. He sits on each one, and asks his kids to jump over to check how well they're bouncing on it (meanwhile, I was saying to myself- what freak of a dad and kids are they!).
While all this was going on, I was convincing him with my before mentioned techniques/tricks/whatever in convincing him to buy the mattress. Then he tells me that he's not been sleeping well and before he could continue, I re-assure him that this particular mattress will solve his sleep deprivation, blab blah. He comes closer to me and says, "Young man, I've not been sleeping each night since August. My wife died in my arms, on our bed".

Shaitan K.

Meow Fights

A week without any new posts. Not that I was so busy to not leave any chance to 'idle'lize my mind, but did not want to fill the kharkhana with junk. Anyway, last evening I suddenly slipped into the memoirs of my Bachelor's days....As I was enjoying the good ones, I got held up at this particular point- Why can't a set of girls (married/unmarried/in-r'ship/out of r'ship) be the best of friends??

At one point, they're like a "Paradigm" of friendship and within no time it seems like even the long gone cold war seems like a no-match when compared to the cold war between these belligerents. The worst affected are the common friends of these women who simply hear the phrase "What do I know?", when asked about the other! These friends are poorer than the actual refugees, who cannot take refuge in either of the parties for obvious reasons. And when you take the bold initiative to mediate a Peace process,- Damn!!! you just cannot hear what they talk about each other!!!!!

When you thought all was over, one fine day when you wake up, all seems to be fine between them, God knows how......and you have the biggest realization of your life, that you are a -FOOL.

This is not a complaint about girls or "Men are superior" argument, but simply a question. Is anybody there to answer this, or the Creator Himself should descend the heavens to answer?

( Or actually, is this why the Creator never descends to earth cos He's bound to answer this one?)

Basti

Slum= a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people/ a house or building unfit for human habitation.

This is the meaning of the term "slum", as defined by the dictionary. Many a times, I did pass through a few slums back home, thinking how poverty forces people to live in such places. Never did I imagine in my worst nightmares that I would end up in one, thousands of miles away from home.
Boldly marked as 'Varsity Manor', it houses 36 apartments. Looks decent from a distance, but you've got to step in to see why I hate this place so much. 'Dustbins' are dumped with thrash; cigarette butts- a zillion of them all over, fast food packages thrown just beside the dustbin and glued rat traps with dead rats thrown on the staircase! Recently I had the opportunity to witness a girl dropping such a rat trap from the third floor, simply onto the walkway!!! I am not sure how each of them maintain the interiors of each apartments, but you'll always find roaches and rodents for company!
This place is often called as "Where the Indians/Andhrites stay". So, as defined in the beginning, if illiterate, uncivilized people live in a slum, what do you call a place with Highly educated, civilized people? Should the university introduce neatness, cleanliness and hygiene as courses for we Indians?

Or simply change the name to "Varsity Basti"?

Note- Dear residents, no hard feelings; this is my say.

Thought Roller Coster

Where exactly does the Shaitan in you start, when idle, and has the WWW right in front? For me, in the beginning the Shaitan is more Angelic in appearance, starting from the main page of Wikipedia, trying to gain some "Worldly Knowledge" and goes on clicking the subsequent links from each sentence in an article. Then deviates to the world of sports, trying to make an effort to update to the latest records, et al. So far, so good. Then begins the metamorphosis from the angelic form! The web pages change to the world of entertainment and show biz! The agenda is not who's doing what but how Beautiful, Hot, Sexy a female looks! That's the good part. I always believe in the quote "Excellence is in the details, give attention to the details and excellence will come". But the Shaitan takes it too seriously and applies this quote in every bit and then does a research into the details why so and so personality looks so good. That might be googling the vital stats (no hiding of this fact), her personality/attitude.......... and keeps wondering "when will I get to meet a similar person for real?" C'mon guys I am not even so crazy to meet the personality herself!!!!! After this, the buck stops here as this Shaitan does not prefer sleaze!

What kind of a ride does the Shaitan in you take?

p.s. Got to mention Shaitan's favorites- Deepika P., L. Dutta, Sushma R., N. Dhupia, on the national front; Maria S., Y. Isinbayeva on the international.

Shaitan K.