Year: 2013

Series Break, Once More

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
In no mood today once again to write the story. I have had a severe acidity attack which has resulted in a bad and terrible head ache. Dad always told us when we were kids that he never knew what headaches were until he was 30! He hadn’t tasted tea until he went to college! I now know why he never had a headache until 30! He was 30 when I was born! He turned a senior citizen this year and I 30! With two kids, now even I can boast, I never knew what headaches were until I turned 28!
My older daughter Jisha was born a few days after I turned 28 on the 28th day in the 3rd Month of the year. She turns 2 in less than 3 days now. I would be having a few friends and lots of kids from the street over for it. However, later that evening, I am planning on a nice large peg of Black Dog and some spicy Paneer Chilly. It’s not that scotch can only be paired with non-veg food. I am a pure vegetarian. We don’t even have eggs at home.
This time I would not be alone. My in-laws are going to be here. So that would mean my brother and I don’t drink alone. I would have my Dad, Dad-in-Law and my brother along! The more the merrier! Any ways, not much to write but I am leaving you with a recipe of Paneer Chilly that I intend to cook myself and serve it with style!
This is a recipe by the master chef Sanjeev Kapoor! You can find it here as well.
Ingredients

Cottage cheese (paneer) 300 grams
Oil 2 tablespoons + to deep fry
Corn flour/ corn starch 3 tablespoons
Garlic,crushed 3-4 cloves
Onion ,halved and thickly sliced 1 medium
Green capsicums,cut into thick strips 2 medium
Green chillies,sliced 6 to 8
Vegetable stock 1 cup
Salt to taste
Soy sauce 2 tablespoons
MSG 1/4 teaspoon

Method

  1. Cut the cottage cheese into medium sized diamonds.
  2. Heat sufficient oil in a wok, roll the cheese diamonds in one tablespoon of corn flour and deep fry on medium heat until the edges start to turn brown. Drain on absorbent paper.
  3. Mix the remaining corn flour in half a cup of water.
  4. Heat two-tablespoon oil in a wok, add the garlic and stir-fry for half a minute.
  5. Add the onion, capsicums and green chillies and continue to stir-fry for a couple of minutes.
  6. Add the fried cheese and stir in the vegetable stock. Add the salt, soy sauce and MSG and mix well.
  7. Add the corn flour mixture and cook on high heat stirring and tossing until the sauce thickens to coat the cheese and the vegetables.
  8. Serve hot immediately.

Escape to Freedom

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
The Dragon stood right in their path blocking them from getting away. The Dragon and Rishi stood facing each other. Neither moved so much as an eyelid but both had their hands on their guns. The Mask was not dead yet but he was not completely out yet either. He got up struggling to his feet. He stumbled and fell. He had received a really strong blow. He crawled towards the Dragon. Rishi knew that if the Mask and Dragon got together it would put him to trouble.
Rishi’s Bobcat was still hidden away within his palm. Just when the Mask was within his range, he pulled the trigger with one hand and threw the knife from his belt towards the Dragon. The gun shot created the diversion that Rishi wanted. The dragon pulled his gun out to shoot at Rishi, but it was too late, the knife hit the target. The Dragon was down and out. The Mask was not however. Rishi had missed his mark fair and square.
The Mask quickly got to his feet and ran for cover. The gun shot had brought a lot of their men out into the open. The Mask called all his men to shoot at Rishi and also stop him from getting out of there alive. Rishi pulled Suman and dived behind a wall of Black Dog cartons. He asked her to be right there and not come out until he asked her to. He gave his Bobcat to her and asked her to use it for her safety. Suman’s hands shivered taking the gun.
Rishi pulled his Beretta and quickly checked the bullets. The gun was still loaded. He slowly looked out to see where the Mask was. He was hidden behind the table. Just then a bullet whizzed past his head lightly grazing his hair. He could smell his burnt hair. Rishi quickly dived back. He knew he could not stay hidden for long and would be caught if he stayed hidden there for long. He decided to risk it. Rishi got out pointing his gun at the nearest shooter and fired. The Shooter was dead. But the problem he was faced with was not just that one shooter. The Mask and all his men posed a big problem. A bigger problem was he did not know who was where and how many were there.
Rishi was back behind the wall. He pulled his flask of Black Dog and took a large swig out of it. He had to be prepared for any result now. He got out and started walking towards where the Mask was hiding. Men tumbled out in front of him like drums on a slope. Each man was dead before his bullet hit Rishi. Rishi was close to the Mask when he ran out of bullets. All the men and the Mask now came out of hiding. He had a clear view of who was where and how many were there.
The Mask gave a roaring laughter. He was sure Rishi was as good as dead now. Rishi shouted for Suman and asked her to run towards the door. The Mask laughed even louder. Rishi charged towards the Mask and pinned him down. The two got into a fist fight. The Mask still had the gun in his hand. The two wrestled to get a control over it. Suman was standing a little away from them. She was frozen! A gun shot rang in the air. There was blood on the floor. Both Rishi and Mask were stained. The two parted and lay motionless. The men were stunned as well. No one knew who of the two men were hurt. After what seemed like ages, both got up, Rishi had the gun. He fired two more rounds. The Mask was finally dead.
The ordeal was far from over yet. They still had to get back to the car. The two made a dash. They finally knew they would now be free. The sun was breaking into a dawn. A new day had just begun.

Enter the Dragon

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
A masked man brought Suman into the room dragging her by her hair. “Looking for her?” he asked Rishi. With this he threw Suman next to his chair. Suman’s hands and legs were bound behind her by ropes. Luckily she was not blindfolded. But then, he did not want Suman’s involvement into whatever he was doing. It was not what he had planned to tell her, but then it was one of the hard facts of his life which she would have come to know of sooner or later. Better for her to know his reality on her own. Saved him the trouble of explaining, saved him the trouble of finding out if she still wanted to be with him after this.
Suman fell on her back and was writhing in pain. They had not inflicted any injury to her but then she was hurt due to their being slightly rough with her. Rishi had always shied away from relationships because he never liked being in the sticky situations like the one he was in today. No point crying over spilt milk now. He had to face it come what may now.
He had known the masked man and the other together as the Dragon team. The two had worked together since time immemorial. It was said that the Mask did not take his mask off even when he slept. Rumours were that his face was so horrendously damaged by his father that it was not possible even for his mother to recognise him. He had run away from home that day wearing a paper bag as his first mask. He never took it off after that day. He had met the Dragon Boss as a co-traveller on a trawler on his way while running away from home. This is when he had been introduced to the world of crime. He had taken to it like a fish takes to water.
The Mask came around and gave a heavy blow on Rishi’s face. The two were here to exact their revenge. Revenge for being sent to jail. They had been invincible and unstoppable in the world of crime until Rishi came along. After that Rishi had successfully tailed the two and had ensured that the two were behind bars. They had been tried in the court of law where they had both been awarded life sentences. They had both been moved to separate jails in different locations. They had vowed their revenge in full public view.
Dragon asked Rishi, “Wondering how we got out?” and roared with a resounding laughter. “There never were jails built that were strong enough to hold us in for more than a few weeks! So what if there were thousands of police personnel deployed.”
Unknown to them while they were raining blows on Rishi, Suman had eyed a broken bottle of Black Dog thrown a little behind her. She quietly slid behind and started cutting her ropes apart. She wanted to get out of this hell hole fast. Rishi was the key to take her out, she somehow knew this.
The Dragon received a phone call and went out to answer it. He indicated the Mask to leave Rishi alone and follow him a little far away from ear shot. This was Suman’s chance. She quickly untied hers as well as Rishi’s ropes. The two managed to free themself successfully before the Dragon team got back. Rishi had pulled out one of his Beretta 21A Bobcat and had hidden it safely within his palm.
The Team got back. Rishi was not sure how many were with them but he had been left with no choice. The Mask came closer to him with the knife. Rishi had no wonder in what awaited him next. He wanted to catch the Mask by surprise. When he was close enough to Rishi, he got a heavy blow in his groin and collapsed on the ground in pain.

Ghosts of the Past

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
Rishi got back to his car to compare the location that he had just received with that of Suman’s last known location. The phone had been stable and had not moved since the last few hours. Either that or the location reporting had somehow turned off. The two locations were different. While the phone seemed to be in a warehouse, the location he found was off by a margin.
Rishi wondered what to do. He could either follow the bread crumb trail that he got off the phone or he could go to the location he found at the spot. He checked his glove box for the gun. It was there. His trusted Taurus PT709 Slim was safely tucked inside. So were a few spare bullets. Two spare Beretta 21A Bobcat were hidden away safely within his shoes. One Beretta 93R was strapped to his chest. He set it to fire at burst mode for dire consequences. He also had a classic scout’s knife hidden within his belt.
The car started like the purr of a cat and he was fast on his way to reaching the last known location of the phone. He was not sure what to expect. But he had to take that risk. The warehouse was a good 10 kms away. He set up his smartphone to navigate him to that location through the fastest known route. Since it was past midnight he expected the roads to be empty and empty they were. He was racing away with the navigation system on full blast at a high speed. He was there in no time.
When Rishi reached the warehouse he found it to be an abandoned old warehouse that may have been used to stock liquor. Several broken bottles and used cartons lay strewn around. He quickly read the name off one of the cartons. It read Black Dog. He was careful not to ruffle so much as a leaf just in case the people inside got alerted. He could hear a few muffled voices coming from inside. They were mostly sounds of women and a few children. He still could not risk it. He moved with the agility and swiftness of a lion to catch the people inside by surprise. Instead he was caught surprised. He was hit on the head by something hard.
When Rishi gained his senses a few moments later, he found himself tied to a chair with the spotlight on him. He could feel that his Beretta 93R was no longer with him. He did not know about the Bobcat though. His face was soaked wet and there was a man standing right there before him with a knife in hand. Next to him on a table lay his gun. He could feel his temple pulse with pain and trickles of blood around his eyes clouded his vision. He knew this man. He was the same person whom he had had jailed from one of his earlier cases. He had been wanted for murder, assault and felony. Suman was nowhere around.

Bread Crumb Trail

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
Rishi reached Suman’s Office to find it closed. There was nobody around as expected. He however found a dazed and sleepy watchman who had been woken up from his slumber by Rishi’s arrival. The watchman would not answer any of his questions. It was obvious. He was still sleepy. There was no point shaking him up. No, money would not work on a drunken and sleepy watchman either. He had to use other methods. Before he did anything, somebody walked down from the office. Fortunately for him, this colleague of Suman’s knew her. In fact, he knew too much about her to his liking. He introduced himself as Rohan.
Rohan told Rishi that Suman took the metro to get home. Even today she had left on time with Rekha to go home. Rekha and Suman always left work together and lived nearby. He offered to take Rishi to the metro by the route that Suman took everyday. Once there, he left the place without a trace or a goodbye. This astonished Rishi. He was not used to such disappearances from the folks who helped him or offered help.
At the station, Rishi could do nothing but look around. He found Suman’s bag lying thrown on one side of the road. It was lying strewn and the contents of the bag emptied. Nothing in it seemed to be in order. The money was missing. Nothing that remained was valuable. It was clear that someone had taken all the valuables from it. Was it still possible in that case that the phone really was with Suman and not with this person who had emptied the bag. He rummaged through the bag once again. He found the bracelet that he had gifted her hidden in a corner.
He was now not sure if what he had was a bread crumb trail or a real one. He was not sure what to be done now. He started looking around at the surroundings once again. May be some clues may have been left behind. He found pieces of paper that looked like they had been torn only a while ago. Next to it lay a bottle of Black Dog and two broken glasses. He picked up the pieces of paper. They were pieces of a torn photograph. He quickly got around to placing them together. A few pieces had flown away with the wind, but the face could be reconstructed partially. Only the upper half of the face remained. The face was known. It was Suman. He quickly pulled out his smartphone and clicked a photograph of all the evidences.

He flipped the pieces. It had random numbers scribbled. It did not look like a phone number. But then he was not able to understand what it could be. He pulled his phone out and tried to see if it was a location co-ordinate. He quickly punched the numbers on his screen. It was a location.

Where is Suman?

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
Rishi was calling Suman since the last four hours. Her phone was ringing continuously since the last four hours. He was very worried now. He called her office up a few hours back but then the watchman there confirmed she had signed out at around seven in the evening. She had not come back since then, neither had any one heard back from her. He even visited her house but found it locked. Her neighbours had not seen her come home. There was no point calling Sneha since she was not even in the country. He did not have her parents’ number, but then she would have definitely told him if she was going back home or there was some problem back then.
He was stuck with no leads in this case. He took a swig of his Black Dog. He had told Suman to keep her data connection on all the time so that they could Skype whenever they felt like. He had not thought about checking her online yet. She wasn’t there. This could only mean that her Location reporting would not be available either. Nonetheless he tried checking her last known location. It was a warehouse ten miles away from her office. What could she be doing there? Was her phone stolen? But if that was the case, why hadn’t she come back home?
There were a lot of unanswered questions, none of them seemed to have any leads. He was frustrated. He felt like a novice. He felt he had hit a dead end. He could not tell the cops. They would not even file a missing complaint before 24 hours. But then it may be too late by then. For whatever you know, her life may be in danger. He did not know where to start from. He had not visited her office yet. He should start from there. He had advised Suman to keep a pepper spray in her purse for her safety. If she was in danger, had she remembered to use it?
He fiddled with his laptop keys while he thought what to do. The TV roared at full volume. His fiddling with the keys changed the map view from last known location to location trail. She had travelled from the office to the Metro station and from there to the warehouse. It was an unmarked warehouse. He finished a full glass of his Scotch in one swig and got up from his chair. He had to do something and that something had to be done fast, really fast.
Rishi changed into his tuxedo and put on his hat. He had to work in style of the private detective that he was. He had to save her at any cost.

Missing

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
Suman and Rishi had been having a great time with each other. Life was going really smooth. Suman had even started imagining what colours the new curtains in their new house would be. Rishi and she had been spending a lot of time with each other. For a change Suman’s work at office had also been going very smooth. Unknown to her, however, a danger had been lurking in her own backyard.
One of her colleagues, Rohan, had proposed to her a few months back during the Black Dog Evening with Rob Schneider. She had declined it. This had not gone down too well with him. He had ended up spoiling the evening for her. She had so very longingly looked forward to the day. She had even planned to end it with style by hitting the discotheque later. But now all that had been put off! Her mood had been completely put off. All thanks to this once known as a sweet guy, Rohan.
Rohan had tried persuading her many times in the past. He had once again attempted it a few days back. This time Suman had had enough and she had given him a strong dressing down in front of the entire office. This had hurt his ego too much. He had vowed revenge. His humiliation had been too much. He had not been thrown out of the office but he had received a stern warning.
Suman was walking down from her office to the Metro Station with Rekha, her associate producer. Just then Rekha’s boy friend came by and she left with him. Suman was left alone. She was close to the station when suddenly a car skidded to a halt next to her and she was pulled inside. She was caught totally unawares. She tried resisting but it was futile. The person was a lot more powerful than her. Her pepper spray was in her purse which she had dropped in the melee when she was dragged in. Thankfully her phone was still in her pocket. She still had hope. She tried to scream, but a hand was cupping her mouth hard. It was impossible to scream. Suddenly something was pressed against her nose and she started feeling dizzy. She lost consciousness.
When Suman awoke, she found herself at a place she did not know. Her hands, legs and eyes were all tied. She had a cloth tied across her mouth as well. It was effortless to struggle. All her efforts to free herself were getting futile. She could hear a few voices coming from a little away. The sounds were muffled. She could not make out who the voices belonged to. She strained her ears to listen closer but it bore no fruit.

Angling Championship–Final Day

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
Danny had had a spectacular day 2. He had caught and tagged one of the biggest fishes of the game. He had been happy. But he wanted to remain unbeaten. He knew that in case of Angling, patience was the only key that he had. He had to employ it to full use and benefit. He had reserved his Black Dog Fly for the last day. He wanted it to be his lucky charm. Day 3 dawned, the participants were instructed to cast their lines.
Danny’s Black Dog lay immersed in the water for hours. He hadn’t tasted success yet. He pulled up a flask from his hipster and took a swig of it. It contained his rationed Black Dog Scotch. He pulled out a book and got down to reading. He knew his day would be long and tiring today. It was not the physical stress that he was expecting but then it was the mental and emotional stress. He felt a light tug on the rope. He waited for the line to tense further. It did not. The tug remained light.Danny was getting frustrated. He had expected a strong tug and a big fish. But then a light tug meant that he would not have too huge a fish caught. Nonetheless, if he wanted to free the line for another fish, he had to unhook whatever was on the line.
He rolled the line backwards but then as soon as he started it, he felt a strong hit on his boat. Much like as though something had hit it from under. It did not persist, he did not bother. He went on to rolling the line back when the line suddenly got tense and the tug on the line really strong. He now knew he had something good. He pulled on the line hard. The fish definitely was a good catch. He did not realize when he had let himself get dragged to the end of the boat.
The fish was a fighter and he still hadn’t caught sight of his opponent. Because of the strong pulling, the boat started to rock. The fish was trying all that it could to get away. Danny neither wanted to lose the fish nor his boat. After pulling for what seemed like hours, he caught the sight of the fish. It was a sailfish! Bright blue coloured fins kept emerging from the water once a way. Danny felt his energy being sapped away. He could not afford to give up now. He had almost made it. After some ten more minutes of effort, the fish gave up instead. It had gotten tired. It was now relatively easier to pull the fish close enough to weigh and tag.
This was the easier part. Tagging the fish. Well ,compared to pulling it out of water, this definitely was easier said. The fish turned out to be an astounding 75 kg in weight! It definitely was one of the heaviest fishes caught in these areas! He was proud. His record shall now remain unbeaten for a long while now.
Post championship party was all about discussing his catch. Single handed getting such  huge fish had been a strain. The line had cut through many places no his palm. But he wore it as his prize. His prize of winning the championship unbeaten! Sneha was in his one arm, the other side pocket held his lucky charm. The Black Dog Fly.

Series Break

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
I have again come to a point where I am at a loss of words. I am really finding it difficult to mince words. If someone were to come down and put words in my mouth, I would lovingly accept them and pen them. Sadly, no one is going to do that. Every writer who has been portrayed in movies, every artist at such a stage is shown to take support of Scotch. I’m planning the same tonight as well. I don’t know how much it is going to work but then I am going to try it.
I am also planning to pick up one of my favourite book from the series that I have been following. The series written by Amish. The Immortals of Meluha and The Secret of the Nagas. The final book in this series is out already now and is waiting to be read. The Oath of the Vayuputras. I have come to expect a lot from the series after reading the first two books. I wonder what Amish has n store for me in his third and final book. How he manipulates the life of Shiva is fairly interesting read.

Whatever you say, I have come to kind of like semi fictional, semi mythological stories. In fact I own a mini collection of that. All these books are classics in my own accord. Lamb by Christopher Moore, Yajnaseni by Dr Pratibha Ray, Krishna Key by Ashwin Sanghi and now finally the entire collection of the Shiva Trilogy. If I were to really look at the Godly figures these books were addressing, I have one on Jesus, one on Draupadi from Mahabharath, one on Vishnu and one set on Shiva. Yet, if I look back at my collection, I am missing so many Gods here! Indira, Brahma et al.
I love reading my books in solitude with no disturbance. But then one thing that I would never want to set aside is my choice of Black Dog. That is the best company I can have with a classic book! How I wish I was of legal age to drink when I studied Shakespeare in school! I would have definitely enjoyed him a lot more! Even today, when I get a chance, I would definitely want to read a Shakespeare. But then again, I think I may have grown out of him now. One shot at school was good enough.

Talking about the classics, I have teamed Rabindranath Tagore and Black Dog. Let me tell you, it definitely is a wonderful combination. While the book grows on you, so does the Scotch. Neither wears away from your senses so soon. Tagore is known for his masterpieces and slowly building up the character. I think Black Dog took a page out of his writing. It so slowly grows on you that you would not want to let it go. Much like a lover wanting leave your arms and go home after spending a passionate evening of romance.
So while I romance my books and Scotch, you go ahead and see if you can catch up on some beauty sleep. It’s Sunday night here. I am planning to live it up in style. What about you?

D-Day

Posted on by Nirav Thakker
Danny arrived at the championship venue with Sneha in one arm and his equipment slung over the other shoulder. He was wearing Khakhi shorts and a bright coloured open neck Tee. He had paired it with boat shoes. His hired Dhoni was marked and ready. It was a bare boat and nothing was allowed on it. He was supposed to row the boat himself. All the participants were explained the rules once again and were also explained the grounds that could allow disqualification. The rules and regulations were based on the rules that were laid down by IGFA. Those participants who were not a part of the MGFA (MALDIVES GAME FISHING ASSOCIATION) were registered and incorporated into the association. The main sponsor of the event was Black Dog, this meant none of the participants needed to pay for the membership.
The bugle was sounded and the participants were asked to get on to their boats. The chosen location was The northern end of Gaafaru Falhu on Male’ Atoll at latitude 4 degrees 50’ North to the southern end of Vattarurah on Felidhe Atoll at latitude 3 degrees 11’ North and bounded on the eastern sides of Male’, South Male’ and Felidhe Atolls at longitude 73 degrees 55’ and on the western side of the above Atolls at longitude 73 degrees 10’.
MGFA Fishing Area
The championship was supposed to be spread between 3 days. Day 1 started at 0730 hrs and ended at 1700 hrs, Day 2 and 3 started at 0630 hrs and ended at 1700 hrs. The competitors were supposed to tag and weigh before 1830 hrs on all days.
MGFA Itenary
When the clock struck 0700 hrs, all the participants were asked to leave in their boats to their desired fishing locations located in view of the judges. At 0730 hrs, a gun shot sounded which let the participants to start fishing. The first half of the day went fairly dull. None of the participants had caught even a single fish. By evening few participants had caught one or two fishes but none noteworthy. Day close was sounded, the participants returned disappointed.
Sneha was back with Danny. He was not disappointed but definitely tired. He wanted to relax. The participants were all invited to come together for a round of scotch. Black Dog was on the house. Scotch allowed the participants to relax and let their hair down. All of them shared their experiences and also tips from other earlier championships that they had participated in.