The face...

He was falling down already...falling down fast. He could hear the swish of the air...the rush of wind on his face..it was cold and felt like a hundred needles....There were faces running in his mind...all those he had ever seen...but he was stuck on a single face now...thinking who was the one responsible for it. He turned mid-air, closing his eyes, not wanting to see the hard ground beneath. He had read about it often...skulls cracking open like a coconut opened by the vendor on the street side, pool of blood that followed...He had seen it several times in his career...He opened his eyes again and saw the myriad of colors around him...The world in a blur, he thought. It was strange how he thought of those one liners...Well they were the reasons for his success as a reporter....It was his job....To report directly from the crime scenes...Yes, that's what he had been doing all his life. He had seen all sorts of crimes...crimes of passion, crimes of murder, killings, extortion, kidnapping, mass killings, you name it...He was the best crime reporter ever, that's what they said. Huh, the fools, flatterers...none realising he could see their jealous hearts behind their faces, veiled by a smile and eyes full of admiration...Every award that he had won seemed only a piece of meaningless memory...He could see his family now...and his dead wife, smiling at him...all of them..they were waiting for him perhaps...His dead son...all of them were killed for publishing a story he was threatened not to...He saw the concrete floor now. Now he closed his eyes so tight that they hurt..."Only a moment of pain...That's the cost I am ready to pay to see all of them again..."And he fell....

He woke up with a start, sweating profusely. His heart beat frantically against his chest, as if wanting to burst out it. Now he cried, like a baby, inconsolably. Next day the newspapers carried the headline:"Award winning reporter dead, jumps off from his pvt plane without a parachute..".

And finally he knew the face responsible for all that had happened to him:His own.

For your taste buds only.....

Well.....I am done with my first post and I went asking(well literally interrogating) my friends about what do I write the next post on and my search was not worthless. A good friend of mine suggested that I make my blog a bit 'hot and spicy'. At first I thought it wasn't possible....I mean this is supposed to be a non-adult blog. But then I thought "Why not give it a try?"

The first image that comes to my mind when I think of 'hot and spicy'( and am sure some of the other guys conjure the same image....with a few modifications of the number of coverings though...:P)

And for girls....it might be the following( at least that's what I inferred after watching 'Bachna Ae Haseeno'.....frankly I don't like him much....for obvious reasons..)

However, on second thought, hot and spicy need not always mean sleazy and glitzy. It might also turn out to be tasty and also unpleasant at times. Oh yes, I am talking about the most important thing to me in this world: food( It might seem a bit silly to you....even I feel so as I write this...)

They say some eat to live and some live to eat....either way both do eat, don't they? Personally I belong to the second category and I assure you that this is the category which has a majority. And why shouldn't it??? It is the most inviting and tempting option.

I simply can't imagine a life with dieting and control on my eating habits. Seriously, how can those models refuse to a mouthful of delight. Not only them, but I have seen people starving themselves in order to obtain 'that' look.What a shame!!!

Talking about hot and spicy food, the first thing that strikes my mind is pav bhaji. Once a poor man's food in Maharashtra, this dish has taken the nation in a storm. No where will you find a restaurant or a food outlet, which of course claims to be selling Indian food, not selling pav bhaaji. Even some eateries at America have started keeping the dish on menu keeping in mind the growing number of Indians(and hence the popularity). Its fast, tasty,nutritious(oh yes....it is actually...with all those veggies they put in) and obviously hot and spicy. No wonder it has become a preferred dish in parties and family outings. Another dish that comes to my mind is our very own Masala Dosa. A traditional south Indian dish which is as famous, if not more, as the pav bhaaji. Rich in carbohydrates and proteins, dosa comes in more than 30 varieties, which vary according to the ingredients, place and even the diameter of the dosa( ever heard of the 70mm dosa???They are super large dosas...lengths might go upto 1mtr and might even exceed that...). Extremely beneficial for health, this is one snack which comes at the lowest prices and best taste. Best when hot and fresh off the pan, it comes on my fave list too.
Coming to firangi stuff, burger and Coke,although it doesn't qualify on our criterion of hot and spicy, top my list( and may be yours too). Although Baba Ramdev is of the opinion:"Burger maane barbaadi ka ghar" and "Cola maane toilet cleaner", I beg to differ. A burger, according to me is the most convenient form of food to be carried around. Fast and simple( and of course spicy).....these were the reasons why the burger even came into existence. There are many conflicting stories about the origin of the dish but the one which I find the most believable is the following:There was this guy who used to sell meatball in some fair in New England. He found out that the reason he wasn't having enough sales was the fact that it was quite difficult to carry the stuff around. So he flattened the meatballs and placed them between two slices of bread...Thus the world's first burger was born. Although a vegetable burger is not as popular in other countries as the hamburger, it sure is quite a rage in India.

And the last but not the least comes in chowmein....I am talking about the desi version mind you...not the original tasteless, spineless and worthless chinese one.Its hard to imagine how those squint eyed guys even swallow that thing they call 'chowmein'. In fact the world over,the modified versions of chowmein are more famous than the original form. To me the hottest and the spiciest chowmein I have eaten was the chili garlic version at SAC(BITS Pilani people would know...for those who don't, simply put its a student hangout spot in our campus)....That thing almost put my mouth, tongue and throat on fire.It took me at least two cokes in order to breathe properly...But you know what???I really enjoyed it...Actually it has now become one of my most wanted dish there.....:p
Coming to pathetic ones, I think all of you out there will surely agree that the 'food' the hostel authorities serve us SUCKS BIG TIME!!!! How the hell are we supposed to eat that thing they give us to eat. And of course other hated recipes would have to include octopus soup, snake stew, chameleon curry, 'taradu ka achaar' (toad pickle), etc etc....The list goes on and on. The highest ranking in imaginative recipes goes to the Japs and the Chinis....They will make a sabji out of anyything they lay their hands on...god!! Can you imagine eating a snake's liver and a tiger's .......,you know, as an aphrodisiac???

Well I think I have shared enough about the culinary delights....I don't know whether u are salivating right now or cursing me(forgive me but that octopus pic was the weirdest one i got)....Even I don't know how well it would come you know...do let me know whether you found the blog rotten and boring....or tasty and delightful....

"Did you know......!!?"

People are so obsessed with whatever goes around them. Even if it doesn't have anything to do with them. Yes sir.....gossiping is our favourite way of passing our time. People simply cant get enough of it. "What's he up to these days??? He seems to be really secretive...." , "Did you know so- and so are hanging out together these days!!!!".....Well these are some very common lines I've come across. Well I read it somewhere that gossiping is hard-wired in our brains; stuff about social behaviour etc etc. But in my frank opinion, it is one of the most irritating things. Just envision this: I just told a friend of mine about my secret crush in my school and somehow, four days later, a common friend of ours asks me: " hey Atin!!! I never knew you liked her!!!" and I was like "OK....who the heck told you that???" and she says "You didn't know??? Its all over the place...". Gosh.....I hope you imagine my horror.

Spreading a gossip is not very difficult. You just need to have a good sense of communication, a big friend circle( who, of course, will share your enthusiasm) and a lil' sense of imagination( that's one of the most important ingredients...whose interested in listening to a simple piece of useless information???)......Taa Daaaaaaaaa.......You have the perfect recipe for your chatpata plate of calumny. Some will cross all bounds in order to have that sense of euphoria, of having enlightened the poor, uninformed guy 'bout the latest developments around him. They will shout about it all over the place, tell it to their friends and relatives through every means imaginable: Telephone( God bless Graham Bell), Social networking sites, smses and some more enthusiastic ones will even put up posters( believe me....I have seen that). Well I really don't know what they think while doing all this. May be I will come to know someday....

But is there a need to do all this???? I mean if someone comes to you and shares his/her thoughts with you, is it necessary that you spill his/her thought on the discussion table with your friends??? This is one breed of people which is the most dangerous to hang around with. They belong to no one. It sometimes feels as if the sole purpose with which the Great One sent them on this earth was to acquaint others with those precious bits and pieces of news happening around them. I tell you what....a great career option for these guys lies in the field of advertising....Any company iring them would roll in moolah. They surely are hungry for such overenthusiastic souls.

Somehow, for reasons I don't understand, people love to hang around with them. May be its because of the reason that they fulfill their insatiable appetite for knowledge( of who's with whom and who's doing what etc. etc). And if you ever happen to confront the source of those stupid rumours doing circles all over the place the guy simply shrugs his shoulders and says "Well it wasn't me" or some more cheekier ones will say "You shared it with me, didn't you??Whats wrong in sharing it with everyone else???".....I wish i don't meet another one like that, and neither do you.

Just think about all this and see how many gossip mongers you have met( and might meet). There is an infinite variety of them. They come in all forms, shapes and sizes with the only aim of breaking our daily monotonous routine. Oh, how empty a day would fee without at least a single spicy story a day. Its OK if you come to hear of something new( and sensational) but if possible try keeping it to yourselves. The valuable chain of "knowledge" would remain unbroken as there is always someone with those three golden words:"Did you know........?"