#StorySutra: Story 3 - Ruksana Amma Ki Mutton Curry

Reader Advisory: The following story contains intense and unsettling themes. It may not be suitable for all readers. Proceed with caution if you’re sensitive to dark or disturbing content.

“Hello friends! I am in Delhi today, all the way from Bengaluru, to try the famous ‘Ruksana Amma Ki Mutton Curry’. Friends! Look at her! How adorable she is!” Food vlogger Ashmita Sahay had travelled from Bengaluru to try Old Delhi’s renowned mutton curry, sold by an elderly lady named Ruksana. She is a 54-year-old woman who manages an eatery that was started by her grandfather in 1970, on the very day she was born, 13th March. Ashmita had seen a video by a food vlogger from Delhi who praised the mutton curry as if it had descended straight from heaven.
“Amma! Can you please give me one plate of mutton curry with rumali roti?” Ashmita excitedly asked for food. She sat on one of the old chairs outside the eatery and took her first bite. “OH. MY. GOD! Sudesh was not wrong! This actually tastes like heaven. Guys! You have to try this. It’s so amazing. I have never tasted mutton curry like this in my entire life.” Ashmita kept praising the dish continuously as she finished every drop of curry on her plate.
“So Sudesh, tell me more about this place since Amma wasn’t ready to talk on camera.” Ashmita turned the camera to her friend, who had introduced the place to her. “The shop was established in 1970 by Ruksana’s grandfather, Rahim Chacha. The story that her son told me off-camera was that Zakir Khan, Ruksana’s father, did not have any children,” Sudesh narrated the story while sipping chai.
He added, “Rahim asked for a child for his son and promised that he would open a shop in the child’s name if his ‘mannat’ (vow) was fulfilled. He also vowed to give away 50 plates of food every day for free as part of this ‘mannat,’ which still continues. Ruksana was born, and the shop was named ‘Ruksana Ki Mutton Curry.’ After Rahim, Zakir managed the shop, and Ruksana took over the operations in 2010. The entire family works here, regardless of age or role. You won’t find a single outsider employed here.”
“This is indeed a fascinating story…” Ashmita said while packing up her gear. She was not the only vlogger or food critic visiting the place. Interestingly, every video made at Ruksana’s shop became an overnight hit, bringing more business to her establishment. From police personnel to IT professionals, from the affluent South Delhi crowd to rickshaw drivers, everyone ate at the shop without hesitation, drawn solely by the taste.
Ruksana, though an open-minded and modern woman, tried to stay away from the camera as much as possible. She never objected to vloggers or photographers filming her, but she never gave an interview. Her younger son, Ishfaq, was given the responsibility of managing the media and telling the shop’s story. He had a separate counter where he sat and assisted the vloggers, ensuring that regular customers were not inconvenienced by their presence.
Despite being an old shop, it was impeccably clean. Visitors never saw a grain of dust at the counters or inside the shop. The seating area was cleaned every hour to maintain hygiene, which added to the shop’s popularity. But the most fascinating aspect was that the oversized pot from which the mutton was served to customers had never been covered since the shop opened in 1970. The fire under it had been kept on a low flame since day one. The mutton was cooked inside the shop, visible to customers, and added to the pot as soon as it reached a certain point. Ruksana kept stirring the mutton curry, mixing old and fresh batches, giving it a distinctive taste.

1/n
The Murder Mystery

Only a kilometre away from Ruksana’s shop was the New Delhi police station. Inspector Kirti Khurana had joined the station a couple of months ago. “Kirti, KIRTI! What are you reading?” Jatin, Kirti’s husband, almost shouted as Kirti was engrossed in a case file. “Arre, Rohit sir gave me a new case today. I’m trying to wrap my head around it,” Kirti told Jatin, still focused on the case file. “What is it about?” he asked. “Murders… 9 of them, that happened in the last three months,” Kirti was yet to look at Jatin.
“You got the case! I knew it! I knew it!” Jatin, who is a reporter at Crime Time Daily, was thrilled that his wife had finally gotten a major case after transferring from Lucknow to Delhi following their marriage. “Yeah, when I showed Rohit sir all the evidence pointing to the fact that all these nine cases are linked, he asked me to lead the team. I will be working with four other teams from different police stations,” she said while closing the file. “You tell me, how was your day?” she finally looked at Jatin.
“Leave my day. So, what do you think? Does our theory hold?” he asked curiously. Jatin had been helping Kirti with the case without getting officially involved. “At first glance, yes. But let’s see. I have a meeting tomorrow. All teams are coming here to formally join the task force. The Commissioner is also coming.” Kirti was visibly stressed because of the case. In her ten-year career, she had solved all thirty cases she had led, but she had never faced a potential serial killer.
It was the end of September. The weather in Delhi was starting to get a little cooler. In July, the first murder victim was found about 500 metres from Krishna Nagar Metro Station. The investigation went on for over three months, but nothing concrete was found. Police saw the victim on CCTV passing by the metro station, but after that, he was untraceable. There was also no suspicious person following him who could be considered a suspect.
Over the next three months, eight more murders occurred, the last one happening in the New Delhi police station area. Kirti was handed the case because she had experience solving murder cases. While reviewing the case details, Kirti stumbled upon news reports of murders in other police station areas and requested the files. Although the method of killing the victims differed, there was one common aspect: a large chunk of flesh from their thighs was missing. The flesh had been cut with precision, and when she compared the post-mortem reports, it became evident that the weapon used to cut the flesh was similar.
2/n

🧵 #meltdown

Delhi L-G granted prosecution sanction against Arundhati Roy under UAPA in 2010 provocative speech case.

Soon after the report, the left-liberal and Islamist gangs had a meltdown.

Here are few gems.

1/n Rajdeep Sardesai ka Banana republic wala meltdown. 2/n Prashant Bhushan had somilar reaction.

#meltdown 🧵
Few days back, @OpIndia_com did an expose on former Principal of Somaiya School, Parveen Shaikh, exposing her pro-Hamas likes on X. On 7th May, she was sacked.
Enjoy some gems...
1/n. Scroll tried hard she did not face action. But alas... 2/n Scroll got so desprate that its team members started doing PR for her.

#CAA meltdown 🧵
As CAA Rules have been notified, a meltdown by Islamists and left-liberals was expected. Here are some of the gems.
1. Rana Ayyub 2. Assasuddin Owaisi

Do log hain twitter pe kabhi relationship mein hua karte the. Dono ki shaadi ho chuki hai. Abhi bhi dms mein pyaar mohabbat with explicit images chal raha hai. Kanya ke patidev ko pata chal gaya hai. Kabhi bhi dhamaka hi sakta hai. One of the last messages were "I still remember taste of your lips". Kanya ka pati is an old client turned friend. Hum mil collage bana rahe so that he can confront her. 30 min se yehi pad raha hun. Funny stuff. I wish I could share SS. Only allowed to tweet collage progress.

#MetaVsTheWire Saga

A #thread to explain what happened since October 6 between @Meta and #TheWire. The aim here is to keep it as simple as possible. This thread is more about the facts and not about taking sides.
#NoTechnicalJargon

Reports from @OpIndia_com are embedded.

1/n On October 6, The Wire published a report suggesting Instagram removed a satirical post on UP CM #YogiAdityanath. The post was published by Instagram handle @/cringearchivist. It is active on Twitter as well. Cringearchivist blamed 'faulty AI' for the removal of the post.

2/n

#TwitterTricks #Thread

Let's talk Tips and Tricks for using Twitter more efficiently. Many of us use the platform for more than merely a social media presence. I will keep this thread alive with the Twitter Tricks that I came across over the years. Contribute, if you can. 🙂 If you want to remove the RTs from the search, simply add "-RT" without quotes. For example, "Uttar Pradesh Elections -RT" will show the tweets containing the phrase "Uttar Pradesh Elections" but will not show if someone has RTed a tweet that contains the same phrase.

बजरंग प्रेम का रूप धरे,
बजरंग करे विनाश,
जैसी करनी तू करे,
वैसा दिखे प्रकाश,
हनुमन में हैं राम बसे,
राम में दिखे हनुमान,
अंजनिपुत्र का निर्मल दृदय,
भजे वह सीता राम,
शांत रूप में सम्मुख आये,
कामरूपिण हनुमान,
भूत पिशाच जिस से डरे,
वह केसरीसुत हनुमान, वज्रकाय महाकाय,
अनेकों रूप के हनुमान,
शिव के ११ रूद्र जिसमें बसे,
वह महावीर हनुमान,
भक्तवत्सल अमर हैं,
वानरराज हनुमान,
जिधर सुने राम का नाम,
प्रकट होए हनुमान,
महातेजस प्रकाश रूप,
महातपसी हनुमान,
सब दुखों को जो हरे,
मंगल रूप हनुमान,

Yesterday, I had to work late night. Something very emotional happened and it broke my heart for the stray cattle. At around 1:30 AM when I left the desk for some time to walk around I noticed an ox standing outside. He is not regular but was looking inside. By the time I picked food for him and went out, he was gone, but I could see him from far. I called him. He turned and literally ran back. After feeding him some carrots and jaggary and when he was calmer than the moment he started eating, I came close and saw his face.