Story of Lord Ganesha

While browsing on Internet, I came across a very nice mythological story and its superb interpretation on www.reddit.com. And after doing some background research I found out this article was originally published in a blog Sounds Interesting. So after giving proper credit to the blogger, I want to share this on my blog.

The Article goes like this.....

The birth of Lord Ganesha is one of the weirdest tales I have ever come across, here it is modified and modernized for your reading pleasure.


Lord Shiva’s wife Parvati decides to take a bath… While bathing, a lot of dirt comes off her body (may have been meditating many years… these things accumulate), being creative (pun intended) puts that dirt into the form of a really handsome child, and being a Goddess blows life into the child and asked him to wait outside (she could be modest too) and not let anyone come in till she finished her bath (and accessorizing). So the child goes out and waits, and soon enough along comes Lord Shiva, and asks the boy to step aside and let him go in. Boy refuses. Shiva gets angry. Shiva shouts and threatens. Boy doesn’t budge. Shiva chops off boy’s head! (Children in those days faced pretty harsh disciplining)

Parvati is very upset when she comes to know Shiva has killed her son and so to appease her, Shiva chops off the head of a passing elephant and attaches that to the body of the fallen child and gives Him Life.

Parvati is aghast at how her son looks and says everyone will mock him… no one will respect him… Lord Shiva smiles benignly and says that He will grant a boon to little Ganesha - before any Pooja or ritual of any kind is started, He, Ganesha will have to be worshiped first!

Parvati is quite mollified by this, but demands a vehicle for Ganesha… Shiva presents Ganesha with a mouse as his vehicle. Parvati was very happy with that and the family lived happily for many eons to come (ever after really as far as us humans are concerned) And that’s how Lord Ganesha was born… like I said it is a very weird story with plenty of really big loop holes and questions! To start with Parvati must have been really, REALLY dirty for so much dirt to come off her.

Then Shiva is the Lord of the Universe, if a small child told Him to come back later, He could have gone somewhere, looked after a galaxy or two, meditated or something, but no, He chops off the child’s head!
Then He puts an elephant’s head on the child and gives a mouse as a vehicle… no sense of proportion whatsoever! Should have been the other way round Given a mouse’s head and the elephant as a vehicle.
We could go on and on…


The stories of Indian mythology were always narrated on two levels. One level is a story with lots of special effects, one that will leave us amused and in wonder. The other is, where through the symbolism that is used, the Knowledgeable One can unfold the secrets inherent in the story and get deep insights on how Life works and how to tread lightly and gracefully on our planet.

However as usual there is a superb secret interpretation to this story:

Photo Credit: http://www.tirupatidarshan.org/lord-ganesha-names-of-kanipakam-vinayaka-temple/

Parvati is the Celebrative aspect of our consciousness. Parvat means mountain: The Earth herself rising up in celebration.
Parvati was dirty, meaning, the celebration had gone out of life, feeling of sadness, etc had arisen, and she decides to take a bath (be alone)…When you are not feeling good (your celebratory aspect is dirty), you say, give me my space, leave me alone. The dirt that comes off her and she gives life to is the Ego… She tells the Ego see that no one disturbs me while I am not feeling good… don’t let anyone come in!
That’s exactly what most people do when they are not feeling good: They isolate themselves, feel separate from everyone and don’t like others around them or intrusion of any sort.
This is the significance of Parvati animating her ego and asking it not to let anyone disturb her because she is feeling low.
Lord Shiva is the protector of Parvati. So when He sees her that way with her ego standing guard, keeping the Bliss of the Self out, He does what any protector would do… Kills it.
Chopping off the head signifies killing the ego. When you have had your ego trampled upon, you are going to feel even more hurt and bewildered, which is where Parvati flares up. To appease her and teach her, Lord Shiva replaces the Ego’s head with an elephant head.
The Elephant in Indian mythology is held in great reverence. In old times, if a lover wanted to praise his girlfriend, he would tell her she is like an elephant. She is Gajagamini - literally, you walk like an elephant. Meaning you have the majesty and Grace of an elephant. That was supposed to be the ultimate praise! Please don’t try this today… you just might get flattened.



The big head symbolizes Knowledge. The eyes of the elephant are kind, full of compassion and innocence: the most beautiful in the animal Kingdom. So Shiva replaces the head of ego (ignorance) with Knowledge and Innocence! That’s not all, if you have ever seen an elephant walk, stately and strong, you can see that nothing can stand in its way! This way Shivji removed the ego and replaced it with Strength, Grace, Knowledge and Innocence. What a superb combination! And the perfect gift for an angry, sulking wife! Lord Shiva then names the child, Ganesh - The Lord of Knowledge and Wisdom.

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What did you just say?

There was a casual conversation going on between a husband and his wife and amidst of discussing many things, husband said "Sometime you overreact". The wife got angry and said "What did you just say? you are being so unreasonable and inappropriate right now". Husband smiled. 

Sometime our reaction to contradict a viewpoint ends up validating it. Its like someone is saying to you "you are a hot headed guy" and you got offended and slapped him. you just unknowingly proved his point.

Okay enough with the meticulous examples, I am writing this blog in response to what is going on recently in India and abroad. All Muslims are showing their outrage over an anti-Islamic movie Innocence of Muslims, made by an Egyptian-American. Some of the protesters went ahead and attacked US consulate in Libya which resulted in at least 14 deaths, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. In India around 1500 people from Tamilnadu Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam and few other Muslims outfits targeted US general Consulate on Anna Salai in Chennai. They pelted it with stones, burnt American flags, damaged CCTV cameras, a police booth and instruction board for visitors.[News: The Hindu ]

Picture Credit: Wikipedia.

The content of the film is indeed outrageously offensive and highly demeaning to a great religion like Islam and those behind this should be treated with hard hands, but to oppose whatever allegations being made in the film, people are doing the same and hence vindicating offenders. 

      

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Ironic Incidents

To hell with the logic, this world is full of chaos. You can easily witness ironical incidents at every nook and corner. One news I read in 'The Hindu' newspaper website this evening which prompted me to write this very blog. Few people gathered in Azad Maidan, Mumbai to protest against the violence which happened in Assam and the gathering itself turned violent which resulted in death of two people. In all, 11 vehicles, including 3 OB vans gutted, 45 policemen and some journalist were injured. This was just one incident like this many happens, many time at many places.

Who are we? what we think while making any decisions? Is catastrophe our ultimate goal? because this is where we are heading. I have always read, all system try to attain stability and the process of attaining stability is spontaneous. But this does not seem to me a similar case for humans. If a person A kills B, the close relative or friends of B try to kill A, as soon as this happens, situation gets reversed victim becomes killer and killer becomes victim and this process goes on. Isn't this like we are trying to wipe blood using blood and in the process making the whole floor bloody messy.

One very common news is "honor killing". The word means, killing to preserve the honor. If a girl or boy, usually its girl (as in our Indian society lot of "Honor" is associated with girls) fall in love with someone who is not approved by the parents, that girl or boy is killed, sometime along with their lovers. Then this news comes in media, police do arresting and all those "saviors of honor" spend rest of their life in prison. what kind of public esteem did they bring to the family? What kind of honor preservation is this?

We worship god for the mental peace. But what we do during dussehera, Eid, Muharram, Ganesh Chaturthi or during any such holy festive moments we play such loud music that whole town literally goes deaf, and it creates lot of heart and mental problem. Even daily in the morning you can hear temples and mosques playing Hamumaan Chalisa and Azaan in very loud volume.

We earn money to live luxurious and comfortable life and in that process we forget to take proper care of our health and we end up with frail body. I can't imagine a comfortable life on dialysis, can you?

                

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Pendulum: Tracing a Life Curve

From where to start? I haven't slept for like 40 hours, right now sitting in lab studying about nuclear bombardment and its effect on thin film, undergoing a very unusual kind of screwed thoughts process, so a little piece of warning before you start reading. This post is being written in a very "unstable" frame of mind.

Well enough with the caution. let’s get back to original content. For making a thin film, we have to first create a capacitor and for that I was cutting a aluminium foil with a scissor hanging with the help of a thread pivoted in wall. The purpose of keeping that scissor in that fashion was to avoid its misplacement. In life nature has pivoted us with some responsibilities, relationships to avoid our misplacement in this world full of yearning. I took the scissor cut the foil and left it, and then I saw something that I would like to share. The scissor underwent damped oscillation. It was not like that I was witnessing oscillation for the first time, being a Physics Student I have studied in a very detailed manner about all aspect of oscillation but this time I got different outcome. As a fact of physics that tell us that


"In any experiment we get the result what we are looking for, the outcome of experiment is not independent, it depends on who is performing experiment and with what mindset"

So what I observed was, when I left scissor, "she" fell down tracing a semi-circular curve and went past her lowest trajectory point with maximum velocity, but she slowed down when approached the highest point as if she was longing to reach there all her life. She almost stopped there for few time, but alas! life is not fair, it won’t give you what you want, it will give you what you deserve. Feeling very unfortunate of herself, scissor decided to change her love spot, again she went past the lowest point with high velocity (not as high as before) and slowly and smoothly came up, touched her new love spot, wished to stay there forever but again gravity (fate) pulled her down. Again she regressed the same process but what was different in her approach was, though the velocity of going past the lowest point was higher in her whole motion for that round but it was decreasing as compared to the last one (she was getting tired), similarly her love spot was coming down and down with each failure. Each time she tried to move past the lowest point as quickly as possible but since gravity had already decided her destination her all craving went in vain and she got her peace at the point she was avoiding all through her life..

    

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अतीत

याद है तुम्हे वो काली स्याही सी रात

जब हम  मिले थे

दिल के धड़कन के आगे

ट्रेन की आवाज़ भी सुनाई नहीं पड़ती थी ।

तुम्हारा उठ के आना

चेहरे पर मुस्कान लिए

हाथ मिलाने के लिए आगे बढ़ाना

सब कुछ सुहाने सपने सा लगता है ।

आँखों के इशारो में इतनी पैनी धार थी की

शब्द छत विछत होकर बिखर गए थे

लेकिन  उस ख़ामोशी में भी सुकून था

और आज सुकून हीं खामोशियो से भरा है ।

बाहर ठिठुरती ठण्ड थी

फिर भी दिलों में नरमी और गर्मी थी

आज बाहर का मौसम  इतना गर्म  हैं 

फिर भी  दिलों में बर्फ जमी है ।

-  चंचल  प्रकाशम्  

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अवस्था

मैंने बहुत कोशिश  की

तुमसे दूर जाने की

पर हर बार जब भी

सैकड़ो मिल दूर

चलने  के बाद

वापस मुड़ का देखता हूँ,

तो खुद को तुम्हारे

उतने ही करीब पता हूँ |

या तो तुम्हारे समीप

वृत्त की परिधि

बन गया हूँ  मै ,

या इस सफ़र में तुम भी

मेरे साथ चल रही हो

समान दुरी बनाये हुए |

- चंचल  प्रकाशम्  

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Satyamev Jayate: Daughters are Precious

Kudos to the effort of Aamir Khan for this wonderful TV show Satyamev Jayate. We all are aware of the problem prevailing around us, but most of the time we need someone to remind us that, yes we are capable of curbing the menace, if we just put little more effort together. And the show Satyamev Jayate is acting as that reminder. 

                              "Just listen to the alarm and act wisely."      

You were precious for your parents and so is your daughter for you. Don't Kill Her .

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Worst Fear

I am not moving a step forward
fearing, it might creep you out.

I am not moving a step backward
fearing, I might lose something which otherwise would have been mine.

I am unable to stand there
fearing, I might be left longing forever.

But my worst fear is not,
me not moving anywhere

its the incognizance of your whereabout
and what if, you are in the same dilemma.



- Chanchal Prakasham

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ठहराव

तपती मरुभूमि में मरूद्यान सी

प्रतीत हुई थी तुम्हारी आँखें

थके निर्जलित पथिक की तरह

बिना सोचे ही कूद पड़ा था खुद को सराबोर करने ।

तुम मंजिल नहीं थी,

ना तो थी तुम रास्ता

तुम तो बस एक ठहराव थी

जहाँ प्यास बुझाने को रुका था कारवां हमारा ।

गर्म हवा की लपटों से बचने और

सूखते कंठ को तर करने के आनन-फानन में

तैरने ना आने का संज्ञान विलुप्त सा हो गया था

तुम्हारी आँखों में गहराई बहुत थी, मै डूब गया ।

- चंचल प्रकाशम्

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Will This Dismay Vaporize?

It was a long, hot, simmering summer ahead. Vacation was announced in college after semester examinations. All students had departed with jolly mood to their homes and why wouldn't they, it was summer vacation which was two and half month long time of doing whatever they liked.  It was euphoric moment for everyone except Sophia, Prity, Rukhsana and Harpreet. They all had their own reasons for not liking summer vacations.

Sophia, the only child of working parents. She had prior experiences of her gloomy vacations. Sitting whole day alone in front of TV switching channels, no one around to talk to and not permitted to go out in absence of her parents. Prity, hated attending marriages putting lot of makeups and always following lot of family rules and getting second preference over her brother. Rukhsana was frustrated with her marriage talks even after her repetitive denial and wearing Burqa whenever going out with her Ammi and Harpreet disliked meeting her never ending family tree.

They all looked into each other's eyes and a same thought flashed, We have adult franchise, we can choose the government for a country, why can't we choose what interests us? Is it always necessary for a girl to bandage her thoughts within the wrappers of society conviction? The answer was definitely NO in their eyes. Sometime insurgency eludes cognizance.

They planned to go on camping and hiking, arranged all accoutrement and went on to pursue their adventures dream. They were very excited because they were about to see the world through their own eye and not through the eye of the male members of their family.

On first day the tour guide instructed everyone to always remain in groups and return to camp one hour before dusk because the forest was not safe and recently it was in news for tourists assaults. This instruction was against the sole motive of the trip of all those four girls, so on one fine morning they decided to desert their hiking group members and tour guide, and went inside the jungle. The jungle was enriched with flora and fauna, taking pictures of wildlife, fountains, birds, they went too far. Now they had to return and it was already late afternoon, they looked into each other's eyes and thought what if we couldn't return to camp before dusk?

According to Murphy's Law "Any thing that can go wrong will go wrong"

But Murphy can't be wrong. A storm hit the forest uprooting many trees, they protected themselves inside a stone cave kind of structure. when the storm subsided all routes in the forest were completely changed and it was dark too. They again tried to look into the eyes of each other but it was too dark to see the solution but dismay was obvious. Now the atmosphere was so calm as if nothing happened there, the storm was sucked up into heart and mind of girls. They were sitting closely holding each others hand without making any sound, though there was lot of roaring going on in every one's mind. They dozed off because of whole day tiresome hiking.

The crumbling sound of leaves interrupted their temporary calmness, they pressed each others hands tightly as if no blow can throw them apart. Rukhsana said "I guess something is coming toward us". Prity was almost crying. Harpreet explored the area near her with her another hand and got a branch. She said "okay, you girls sit closely I am going to see what is it". she modified that branch into stick and stood up to go. Every one's heart was throbbing very hard. Sophia pulled Harpreet by her hand and said "You don't go alone let it come whatever it is, if we will be together we can face it effectively". Prity affirmed and took out her mobile torch. The crumbling sound became more intense, Prity flashed her light in the direction of sound, they were all sweating with fear and praying their gods. Suddenly Rukhsana shouted, "look there is something", mobile torchlight was getting reflected from the eye of an animal, they all threw whatever was in their hands and chased that animal away. They again looked into each other's eyes, their eyes were looking vividly in torchlight , they inhaled deeply, exhaled, smiled and said unanimously "Thank god it was wolf, we thought it's men ".     

[It's a work of fiction and any resemblance with anyone is mere a coincidence.]                

     

            

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Who Killed?

Swarm of people joining their hands with flowers sandwiched within palms, lips fluttering with spiritual songs and with restless heart were moving towards the door of the temple. It was not an early morning, the sun was quite high in the sky but the day was not so sunny. Soft breeze stirring the leaves was also mixed with Bhajan songs that was creating the ripples of hope in every one's heart. Among them there was a man in police uniform so restless, uneasy and bathed in his own sweat. Everyone was coming offering flower to the god's statue, joining their hands, closing their eyes and wishing from god what they came for. That uneasy man too came before statue but he had no flowers, his hands were stained in blood, he looked furiously at the statue, tears were dripping down from his eyes in form of lava, he closed his eyes and flashback started.

How he was offered with bribe to set free a criminal which he had refused remembering the oath of his service and today morning when he was in office a phone came that his house was attacked and his wife and both children were killed.

Remembering the face of his wife and children stained in their own blood he started shivering with anger. He opened his eyes and shouted "why you did this to me I worship you daily, I do my duty honestly, I speak truth. If you are real, why you didn't stop them from committing such a heinous act and if you are not real, why should I let you stand there and deceive the faith of millions. He took out his service revolver and fired at the statue. The statue crumbled with a roar.

People started crying and fleeing in random directions, they were bewildered after seeing what just happened inside. The pujaries of the temple were nowhere to be seen. The serene atmosphere of the temple became chaotic.  The policeman was also shocked what he just did. He came out of the temple putting his gun back in his waist. Seeing him coming out of the temple people started shouting "this is the demon, this is the devil man who shot at god, how can he shot at god ?, god will surely punish him, god won't let him go, he broke his statue, he fired at him" some were thinking "now volcano will come and will engulf him as he has started direct fight with god". Few started stone pelting at him, seeing his death right in front of his eyes he took out his revolver, the circle of crowd moved backward, everyone was trying to get behind someone. Some started praying please god do something show us some of your miracle your enemy is right in front of us.

The policeman's body was trembling with anger and fear. A "daring" man from crowd aimed a stone at his revolver and revolver fell down from his hand. He was too stoned to bend down and pick it up. The throng pushed forward to do the god's job. They battered him with stones, sticks, his body converted in to the lump of muscles plunged in blood but people kept beating even after knowing he was dead. The crowd was celebrating around his dead body this was the day they had witnessed the god's super natural power. They were shouting happily, god took his revenge, a wave of rejoice propagated among them, the god did not create volcano lest more people would have got killed he only punished this demon.

Meanwhile a kid came out of the crowd staring at them puzzled, he was murmuring "God did not kill him, you all people did".

   


     

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उम्मीदों की किश्ती

समंदर को पार  करने की  ख्वाहिश में

उम्मीदों की एक किश्ती बनायीं थी 

आत्मविश्वास के झोको ने धक्का भी लगाया था 

दुआओं  की लहरें भी सफ़र का सहारा बनी थी 

डगमगाते हीं सही पर किस्ती बढ़ चली थी ।

किनारों का शोर और कोलाहल छूट चूका था 

मन में उमंगो की तरंगे कई इन्द्रधनुष बना रहे थे 

आशा की हल्की हल्की धुप में मौसम खुशनुमा था 

क्षितिज को देख के लगता नहीं था मंजिल दूर होगी ।

सफ़र का वेग तेज़ था 

छोटे छोटे टापुओ को देख हौसला अफजाई भी हुई थी 

मगर समंदर का अपना ही अज़ीब  शोर था, गरज़ना थी 

हवाओ के झोको में नमी थी, गर्मी थी  और अज़ीब सा गंध था 

खुद से क्षितिज की दूरी कम होते न देख मन व्याकुल हो उठा ।

आत्मविश्वास के झोके धीमे पड़ने लगे हैं 

दुआओं की लहरें थमी हुई  सी लगने लगी है 

ये कैसी अज़ीब सी उदासी है, पानी पर तैरते हुए बर्फ़ और 

अति-आत्मविश्वास के तुफानो की चेतावनी तो दी थी लोगो ने 

मगर इस उदासी के बारे में किसी ने नहीं बताया था ।

शायद विषुव-प्रशांत है ये, ये वक़्त भी गुज़र जायेगा  

फिर से ख़ुशी के बयार बहेंगे , फिर से अच्छी धुप खिलेगी 

फिर से इंद्रधनुषी सपने आयेंगे, फिर से लहरों में चंचलता आएगी 

डगमगाते हीं सही पर किस्ती बढ़ चलेगी ।

- चंचल प्रकाशम्

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यादें

पलक झपकाते हीं तेरा चेहरा नज़र आता है
नींद उड़ जाती है बस ख्वाब रह जाता है,
ख्वाबों की फंखुडिया समेटते समेटते, सवेरा हो जाता है,
और सुबह की हकीकत हृदय को अंधकार में धकेल देता है |

ये अँधेरा भी अजीब है सब कुछ दिखता है इसमें
जो न देखना चाहो उसकी चमक और भी प्रबल होती है,
अँधेरे की चमक से व्याकुल आँखे, आँसू की नदियाँ बहाती है,
और उन आँसू की नदियों से बने समंदर में दिल डूब सा जाता है |


सुनामी सी ऊची होते हुए भी लहरे न जाने क्यूँ
समय की रेत पर बने चिन्हों को मिटा नहीं पातीं,
उन अमिट सी चिन्हों में ही घिसती हुई ज़िन्दगी सोचती है
ए चंचल मन तू चंचल ही क्यू न रहा |


- चंचल प्रकाशम्

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When Noodles Turned Crispy

Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic, Justices, Equality, Fraternity, INDIA 2020, Development.




Isn't this all enough to make a person feel ravenous. Abundant craving and that too for enormously long period impaired the public sagacity, crippled with sense they vaguely started demanding something that can easy their agony of burning stomach due to over flowing gastric acids.

Government after signing Kyoto protocol was over-concerned with the emission of greenhouse gases so she decided to tap the heat of public demand to cook something that get ready in 2 minute. What else can one think other that Maggi noodles if it comes to cook and serve in 2 minute. There were lot of other reasons too to converse the verdict on noodles

1. Fast to cook (of course)
2. Easy to eat.
3. You can segment it without making sound.
4. Easy Recipe.
5. Tastes good.
6. and most importantly it's a "Brother's " cuisine.

After finalising what to cook, Now it was time to set the kitchen accessories, so she contacted her foreign friends giving them lucrative offers. Every thing was going smoothly as planned, stage was all calibrated, media took the responsibility to add enough spice to make Maggi full flavoured, foreign giants retailers took the burden of interminable supply of raw Maggi noodles. What came in her part was just adding water, seemed very easy but was very decisive task as supplying heat was not in her control so at first she added enough water but she was not sure about the quantity of Maggi to be cooked to pacify the public voracity so she took advice from some "Elite" section of public.

Kitchen

Maggi was ready in 2 minute as promised on the pack, but the time that she took in aligning all the accessories and tasting the Maggi(Media was also satisfying themselves ) along with cooking, lead to a situation of starvation. At first, some "Elite" people were invited for "Maggi Tasting" as government had apprehension of huge public turmoil because of bad taste. and also they wanted to take few more people in their confidence. Getting such a privileged offer to taste new cuisine that too before all the public, "Elite" group became elated, keeping their emotions on hold when they went inside, the aroma of noodles fragmented their wall of patience and within the blink of an eye they licked the vessel clean with relish(already it was less than half). It's then they realised they were invited just for tasting and that too on behave of millions of starved people waiting outside. Now they had to convince people so they came up with an idea, after all they were "Elite" people.

They came outside arranged a podium and announced "that noodle was tasteless and insufficient as we did not have clear idea of total demand, it was a bit over-cooked too, so please clam yourself down, we have introduced new recipe it will take time, but the taste will fulfill all your taste buds and will change your life forever, try to supply heat judiciously". People had trust in them, holding their stomach tight they cooled their temper.

This time Media showed their charisma holding spice department they wanted to explore something unexercised, so they over spiced it, due to low heat supply noodle remained partly cooked within specified time, keeping their trust in "Elite" group's recipe, Government served it among people without getting it tasted. People ate desperately, few died on spot, some committed suicide eating such nauseating, repulsive noodle.

ZZzz

Now the common people's anger shattered all the bonds of forbearing, their temper reached boiling state, the temperature of the noodle vessel started increasing enormously, it was too high that water poured by government evaporated even before reaching in the noodle pot. Noodle was roasted in the heat. it became crisped. Again Maggi tasters were called but they did not dare to eat more because crisped noodle was making sound when crumbling in their mouth and also there was risk of hurting soft lining of mouth, it was no longer soft smooth noodle.

The above Italic font paragraph is the dying dream of people who ate Musty Noodle. Some among them don't even wanted to enjoy the tasty noodle, they just wanted to put off their pancreatic fire.The Buck Stops Here, Generate the heat, crisp the noodle. It's the need of hour.

This post was originally published on www.chanchalprakasham.wordpress.com

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