Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve: March 2012

Saturday, March 31, 2012

BAD DREAM

BAD DREAM

Short Fiction

VIKRAM KARVE

From my Creative Writing Archives: A Story of Horror Passion and Love

The terrifying nightmare grew.

It was just one revolving pattern of flames with inhuman sounds screaming at him from all sides.

When he tried to use his limbs, nothing happened.

He looked down at his legs and saw that the left one was hanging like a piece of bloody sack.

He felt the searing crash of metal into his body.

And then he heard himself screaming in frenzy as the blaze engulfed him and pulverised his entire body.

There was another voice now – a different voice.

He sat up violently in the pitch darkness, fighting the blanket.

As he recovered his wits, he realized that the door was partly open and he could see a pale figure in the light from the corridor.

“Are you all right...?” she asked.

He did not answer.

She entered the room, walked towards him and said, “I’m sorry, but you were screaming.”

Trying to steady his breathing, he said to her, “Bit of a bad dream, that’s all.”

She sat down on the bed and said, “I was shaken scared by your terrifying scream. It must have been a terrible dream.”

“Yes,” he said, and ran one hand over his wet face.

She reached out and touched his shoulder. “Lie back now. Try to relax. I’ll go and let you sleep.”

He looked up at her and pleaded, “Don’t go. Please don’t go…”

He took her hand and pressed gently.

At first there was no answering pressure.

Then she pressed back.

She touched his hair with her other hand.

He could feel the want churning inside him like fire.

He moved his hand and touched her skin.

“No,” she said quietly. “We’d better stop now.”

He pulled her gently beside him, feeling the yearning like a physical pain.

She did not resist.

Then all at once she was helping him.

They made love.

They made love, first with tenderness, then gradually building up into a passionate frenzy as they both become rough and hard, demanding more of each other, till they lay exhausted, their limbs still entangled.

He lay in bed in self-commiseration, wondering why it had happened.

His train of thoughts spiralled into an abyss as he thought about his agonising loneliness, his frightening, corrosive, desolate life, the terrifying nightmare, the frenzied act.

Was it an impulsive reckless act of love?

Or was it wild rage?

Or was it a desperate act of expiration?

The whole thing suddenly seemed sordid.

He turned towards her and started to say, “I am sorry...”

She instantly put her hand on his mouth and said, “Please don’t say it. What happened, just happened.”

He closed his eyes and lay still.

When he opened his eyes, he saw her standing near the door.

“It was good of you to come,” he said.

“Yes,” she said.

She quietly stepped out of the room, closed the door, and walked away from his life forever.

VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve 2012
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

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About Vikram Karve

A creative person with a zest for life, Vikram Karve is a retired Naval Officer turned full time writer. Educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU Varanasi, The Lawrence School Lovedale and Bishops School Pune, Vikram has published two books: COCKTAIL a collection of fiction short stories about relationships (2011) and APPETITE FOR A STROLL a book of Foodie Adventures (2008) and he is currently working on his novel. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. Vikram has taught at a University as a Professor for almost 15 years and now teaches as a visiting faculty and devotes most of his time to creative writing. Vikram lives in Pune India with his family and muse - his pet dog Sherry with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Academic and Creative Writing Journal: http://karvediat.blogspot.com
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Email: vikramkarve@sify.com

FEASTING WHILE FASTING - THE ULTIMATE FAST FOOD - KACHORI

FEASTING WHILE FASTING

THE ULTIMATE “FAST FOOD”

KACHORI

VIKRAM KARVE

My wife likes to “Fast”. She observes and indulges in all types of fasts.

No, she does not go on a hunger strike, but “fasts” with food - “fast” food. In fact there is plenty of “fast food” to eat on a “fast”.

She fasts on Mondays, Chaturthies, festivals, and any occasion she wants to fast [and I have no choice but to “fast” along with her too!].

Actually, her fasts are not true fasts in the rigorous ascetic Spartan sense. In fact they are delicious satiating fulfilling “fasts”, an appetizing change of cuisine, to what I call “fast-food” which is quite mouth-wateringly yummy and maybe a bit more calorie-rich than normal food (that’s the “fast food” I am referring to, not the burgers and pizza you thought!).

Kachori

My favorite "fast food" is the Kachori.

No! No! It is not the scrumptious Rajasthani style lip-smacking Khasta Kachori that I am referring to, but the “Sweet” crunchy Kachori served by most Udipi eateries in Mumbai and Pune.

Recipe – The Art of Cooking Kachori

It is quite simple to make this scrumptious vegetarian delicacy. Just take boiled mashed potato, add a bit of sabudana peeth (sago flour) for binding, a pinch of salt and sugar and knead into a dough.

Roast fresh juicy grated coconut with sugar, khus khus, dry fruit like raisins, cashews, till it is nice and crispy khamang and your filling is ready.

You must roast in pure ghee, as oil is not permitted on a fast.

Make largish round patties with the potato dough on the outside and a generous portion of the roasted sweet coconut filling inside and deep fry till nicely crusty, crisp and light brown and your sweet kachori is done (fast and simple isn’t it?).

Serve the sweet kachori with a katori of whipped sweetened curds and your “fast food” is ready to eat.

“Fast Food” – The Art of Eating Kachori

You will be tempted to break a piece of Kachori, dip it in the curds and then eat it. Please don’t do it! That’s not the right way to eat sweet kachori. You will ruin the eating experience as the concoction will turn soggy.

What you must do is to place a chunk of crisp hot kachori on your tongue and close your eyes. Now savor the khamang crunchy taste of the lively roasted coconut filling for some time, then press your tongue on your palate and roll till the heavenly sweet filling and the crisp potato covering amalgamate. Tell me, dear fellow foodie, it tastes really yummy, isn’t it?

Now is the time to pop in a spoon of sweet whipped curds, and let the feisty assortment of flavors dance and mingle on your tongue till the food dissolves in your mouth and disappears into you giving you a feeling of supreme satisfaction.

I once saw a movie called “Blow Hot Blow Cold” in the nineteen seventies. The art of eating a sweet kachori is similar: hot and cold, hot and cold, crunchy and soft, crunchy and soft, sweet and sour, sweet and sour!

I first tasted this delicious dish, the sweet kachori, long long back, at a place called Apsara near Hirabaug on Tilak Road in Pune. It is still my favorite Kachori.

Many places like Vihar, at Churchgate, in Mumbai, and Vaishali, on Fergusson College Road in Pune, and many Maharashtrian eateries serve excellent sweet kachori too; and I am sure you will find it on the menu of almost all Udipi restaurants.

So next time you want to relish your “fast” you know which “fast food” to eat, in addition to the usual sabudana khichadi, sabudana wade and ratalyacha kees.

Happy “feasting” while “fasting”.

MARRIAGE DIVORCE SOCIAL GRACES and ETIQUETTE

A Story of ETIQUETTE, MANNERS, SOCIAL GRACES and THE MIDDLE CLASS MENTALITY

A SIMPLE HUSBAND and A SNOBBISH WIFE

VIKRAM KARVE

Before I tell you the real story here is a Mulla Nasrudin Story:

Mulla Nasrudin went to see a divorce lawyer and told him that he wanted to divorce his wife.

“What grounds do you think you have for a divorce…?” the lawyer asked.

“It’s my wife’s manners,” said Nasrudin, “She is unbearable. My wife possesses no social graces and has absolutely no etiquette. It’s disgusting – her behaviour – she has absolutely no etiquette and her table manners are so bad that she is disgracing the whole family.”

“That’s really bad,” the lawyer said. “How long have you been married…?”

“Nine years,” said Nasrudin.

“Nine years…?” the lawyer exclaimed surprised, “If you have been able to put up with your wife's etiquette and table manners for nine long years, I can’t understand why you suddenly want to divorce her now. Why now?

“Well,” said Nasrudin, “I did not have a clue about Social Graces before today. I just bought a book on Etiquette this morning.”

Now here is the real story

Once there was a happily married couple.

The highly educated husband was doing well in life. He worked in an R&D laboratory as an Research Scientist.

The simple homemaker wife (a small town girl) looked up to her husband with respect and adoration.

The well meaning husband encouraged his wife to learn and enhance her educational qualifications since he wanted his wife to realize her full potential.

He motivated his simple wife to do courses in computers, IT and software. Then he helped her find a good job in the IT industry.

The wife did extremely well in the IT industry which was flourishing and in a few years the tables were turned – whereas the wife’s career prospered the husband’s career stagnated.

She travelled abroad on prestigious projects, earned lots of money, got fast promotions and her career truly flourished whereas the poor luckless husband continued to slog away in his job without much reward or recognition.

Now the “successful” wife started looking down upon her husband, as if he were an embarrassment, and sometimes even belittled him.

The wife had progressed but the husband had remained where he was. The wife now felt that she was too good for him. She was way up the ladder, rocketed upwards out of his league. The hapless husband watched helplessly as his wife moved out of his league.

The wife had conveniently forgotten the fact that she was once a simple small town girl and that it was her husband who had initially encouraged her to learn and take up a career due to which she had now become a “Page 3 socialite”. She had totally forgotten the fact that it was her husband who had played a major role in her success.

The globe trotting successful wife now moved in cosmopolitan high society and developed much finesse and “social graces” - she had moved way up the social ladder whereas her husband remained his simple self. To put it bluntly the wife had become quite a snob as her success had gone into her head.

Once when we were dining at one of those high falutin parties, it was very awkward to see her nagging and lecturing her husband on etiquette, table manners and social graces. The wife pontificated to her husband on how to move in high society. She mocked her husband and told him that he still had a middle-class mentality.

That was when I told her this Mulla Nasrudin story and I think it had the desired effect.

Academic and Creative Writing Journal Vikram Karve

Saturday, March 31, 2012

BAD DREAM

FEASTING WHILE FASTING - THE ULTIMATE FAST FOOD - KACHORI

MARRIAGE DIVORCE SOCIAL GRACES and ETIQUETTE

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