Manohar Parsad Yadav...

(Khau Gali is lit during Ramzaan only)

I went to eat an Indian restaurant after a long time and found Manohar Parsaad Yadav in the kitchen, wearing Moti Chaap Lungi and Baniyan. When I saw him the last time two years ago he was wearing the same Moti chaap lungti and Baniyan cooking chicken biryani. Rewinding back to Bombay, when I saw him for the first time he was working for Babu Labacha ( Prononced La-Baa-Chaa meaning Lafda) at his “Baara Handi Food stall in Kahu Gali, Minara Masjid, Bombay amd he was wearing …..(I think you are smart!). My friend Dr. Naiyayr Siddiki, Phd ( Shahid-yaat) introduced me to him.

Naiyyar Siddiki, Phd.(Shahid-Yaat) claims that he knows me in and out. He created a job for himself calling it “ My Crisis Manager”. I think I used to have crisis back then , not anymore.

Anyways coming back to our topic, Baara Handi is a trip, which “late nighters” rich kids know very well. After the last club is closed at 3:00 in the morning these kids look for a place to eat, so they come here. You will be amazed to see the kind of cars in that dingy looking lane. The food is awful, but miraclelously it tastes good after a few bottles of whisky. These kids need some energy for heavy lifting later on that night, and bara handi provides it.

They cook “God knows what” in baara ( 12) haandi with some serious oil and fat. It always dark there, that you cannot see much except a foot of black fat flowing on top of every haandi. They do not have tarns fat, cholesterol and calorie problem there, as the “cooking and the cooked” do not know what it is. They in fact say “ Tarka mar ke 2 chicken maaar saab ko, ya phir 2 naaan extra maskaa maar ke bade bhai ko…. Rumor has it that the baara handi lowers the national life expectancy of India by 25 years.

“ Sahid bhai aap ?’ ( he never calls me Shahid bhai ---shakr ka problem hai!)
“Manohar, bhaiyya tum abhi tak yahan kasie – Tum to India chale gaye the?”

Gaye rahe bahiyya – Pita ji ne wapas bhaga diya.
“Kiyoon?”
”Kehte hian tum American ho gaye ho – ab tum wahin raho”

I saw his lungi and baniyan with all the food stains, smelling like chicken biryani and said

“Tum kahan se Amrican hue?”
“Hum bhi wohi kehte hain Sahid bhai , magar mante hi nahi”

“Aur who tumhari item ka kiya hua?”
“Kaun dulari?”

“Haan dulaari?”
“Dulari kisi aur ki ho gayee”

“Arre who to bahut tumhari chahat ka dam maarti thi …bharti thi?
“Haan magar aurat thi na…..baat baat main badal jane ka certificate tha us ke paas”

Abhi?

Abhi kiya sahid bhai – subah 11 baje se raat 11 tak kaam karte hain. Zindagi guzaar rahe hain.

I bet when Manohar first thought of coming to America, he must not have imagined where this journey would end up, and that this would cost him a relationship.

Father – Son relation is a strange one. Strange because our fathers are the only people who can understand what we are going thru at every stage of life. They can detect our insecurities and worries like an X-ray machine, yet they keep quite. They know what is going to happen next, and how you will fall and fall again, yet they let you do whatever you want to do, as they want you to be a man on your own. I think they do pray inside that you do not fall real bad, or hurt bad, and that you get up after each mistake, each tragedy.

There are many Manohars in America. They dress well, drive expensive cars and live in big houses but they are Manohars when they are alone.

This is how it is, in the fast lane…