Musing Reminisce

It was a defeat of prohibition.  The law in the state had to be changed.   Enough lives had been lost and innumerable hooch tragedies had occurred. There was lawlessness all around. Prohibition had to be relaxed even more. Yenkappa Muralidhar --  A businessman, a philanthropist, a politician.   Was he truly that?   There was another face behind this mask. His true face.   He was a bootlegger. He was a killer.   It was the 1960’s with Bombay in its true shine. The city was thriving with entrepreneurs and there was ample work for everyone. The mills were booming and required manpower to work in the mills. The demand for textiles was at its peak. Poor people from all over the state were migrating to Bombay in seek of ’rozi roti’ These thirsty mouths were yearning for alcohol.     From 1949 to 1963 Maharashtra state had banned the manufacture, purchase, transport and consumption of alcohol due to the Bombay Prohibition Act of 1949   Prohibit...

When you speak of a jump there is one unrivalled jump in history which is a poignant story that dampens your eyes  It was 1576 AD and it was a jump of 22 feet over a canal. It was a jump in full injury but it was a jump of grit. It is all now part of history. My name is Ram Prasad and I speak about my good friend Chetak Remember that day very clearly when in the bloody battle on Haldighati my mahout was killed and my gigantic strength tamed, I was unfortunately overcome and I was put in chains and was made captive by Mansingh. I have been transported from the hills of Mewar to Delhi. Yes you guessed right I am an Elephant in the royal court of Akbar and I have been rechristened to Peer Prasad. As I stand in all magnificence in the Darbar bedecked and ornamented my mind is far away.  To far away lands.  My land -- The lands of Mewar. It is said that Chetak along with his siblings Atak and Natak were brought by horse traders to Pratap Singh. Atak was put on trial in the hil...

It was 2000 and it was a six-litre 1992 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon bottle sold at a Napa Valley charity auction. Well, it was a record for The most Expensive Wine ever sold. Price half a million dollars. My story  is also based in the year 2000 and has an expensive wine bottle. Erm -- expensive but not half a million dollars. It played out as the world rang in the new millennium. It was approaching midnight of 31st December 1999 in Bombay and worldwide this date was a night of anticipated horror and suspense.  There was a virus (bug) that was going to hit the world computers at the stroke of midnight. Not in its true sense but just because of Y2K. Y2K is the shorthand term for "the year 2000."  It was commonly used to refer to a widespread computer programming shortcut that was expected to cause extensive havoc as the year changed from 1999 to 2000 at the turn of the Millenium. There was panic as many computers were programmed to allow only two digits for a y...

The inferno was at its peak.  Fanned by the strong winds it was raging.  The tongues of the flame were dancing in leaps and bounds.  It was everywhere. Starting as a burst gas cylinder accident  it already had the wooden structured bungalow with its fixture and furniture as manna. Yellow, orange and blue flames leapt from different areas as the oxygen sucked into the scenes fuelled the appetite of its huge blazing belly.  The fire brigade had not yet arrived. People had formed a chain and cordoned off the fire scene. It was dangerous to enter. Buckets of water were being passed around to try and quell off the flames. It was an attempt resembling the first droplet of rainwater from a floating cloud falling onto the dry parched sands in a sun stroked burning desert. The water just evaporated out taking the form of a steam fizz.  The intensity of the flames was not reducing. The house would be rendered to cinders.  The house had been cleared of most of it...