Massala Dosa, Rajneesh and Charminar Cigaretts (standard:non fiction, 973 words)
Author: Juggernaut	Added: Nov 04 2012	Views/Reads: 2596/1823	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Three Mainlanders that settled on the Big Island, Hawaii have one thing in common; they all lived briefly in India and came out with different propectives.

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his disciples ran the ashram, what I didn't like it there was over- 

cooked veggies all mashed up. I lost all minerals in my body during my 

stay in India and took good 3 years to recover on returning to Utah,” 

the woman spoke with pleasant smile. 

“With all that meditation and yoga, Rajneesh died early.” 

Juggernaut expressed doubt. 

“Well it was rumored that he was poisoned,” the woman gave a 

suspicious look. 

“How and by whom?” Juggernaut expressed shock. 

“It was one of those conspiracy theories; some say he was 

exposed to some kind of radiation in America that slowly killed him 

after returning to India and some say he died from eating poisoned 

food, we don't know the truth but everybody believes that he was 

poisoned somehow,” The woman talked more about bad food at the ashram 

than on Rajneesh's teachings. Perhaps, he never taught anything at the 

end of his life.  But she was happy on the Big Island after living in 

Thailand and Goa for several years. “I will go to any country where I 

can stretch my American dollar you know, many poor older Americans now 

live in countries where living is cheap. “ 

“You can go to South America to live; living there could be 

cheaper than here.” 

“No, I would rather go to Vietnam or Thailand to live; I love 

Asian culture and people there,” she said dragging her bad feet slowly. 

“Man, I love Charminar cigarettes, I had a blast living in 

Hyderabad in early 90's, I visited often to recruit IT personnel from 

India and I loved the spicy Hyderabad mutton biriyani washed down with 

Indian beer and smoking Charminar cigarettes, it has a very strong 

flavor, I still miss those cigarettes,” lamented the man working at an 

office center on the island. “Once I was in a cab in the old city that 

got into an accident, the driver shouted at me to get out and run; boy 

I ran.  I never get it why he asked me to run after all It was not my 

fault and I was not driving,” the man still looked puzzled over the 

incident that took two decades ago. 

“I would say the driver gave you good advice to run for your 

life otherwise the mob would get you for shake-down for lot of money or 

worse physically assault you,” Juggernaut tried to explain. 

“How about cops?” 

“It all justice at the street level, the crowd will settle the 

issue right there at the spot, the site of the accident on the road, 

either you run or face physical assault and shelling out lots of money 

as compensation; no cops and no court, it is all street justice, I am 

glad you got away.” 

“Yes, I did got away running like hell and then bought myself a 

pack of Charminar cigarettes to calm myself, never forget that 

incident,” the man lighted up   L&M cigarette. 

“So, now you smoke L&M?” 

“It is cheap but hard on my lungs, I still love Charminar, 

cheap and best brand among I tried,” Joe took a deep drag and let it 

out probably thinking about his marathon in the old city of Hyderabad 

to get away from the angry street crowd. 

The legacy of Rajneesh was short lived but the aroma of Massala 

Dosa and Spicy Sambar still spanning the globe and lingers in the mind 

of curry lovers worldwide. 


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