The man, Murukku and the climactic song from Jewel Thief.

The man is in the other car. The car is adjacent to our car in the traffic rush. We are both at a signal. Stationery. Ready to run. The man is driving. The man has a frown. He's thinking. But then, his hand is in motion. He does not look at what his hand is doing. Wow. But his hand comes up with something. It is murukku. South India all season fried snack of the ages. Usually coconut oil fried. On cue, the song in our car changes to the evergreen Jewel Thief's climax song. "Honthon pe Aisi baat dabaake chali aayi". Here, the murukku is absentmindedly between the honthon (lips) and now being dabaake (pressed). Crunch. The teeth get into the act all by themselves. No warning. Just like that. Shrads fly in all directions. Slow motion. With Lata Mangeshkar's swirling voice to be used as background score. One shrad even hits the middle of the steering wheel, bounces back and lodges near the second button. Bhupender Singh comes on, yelling high pitch, Shaalu. Yes, he too is there in the song. Remember, he played the guitar too in this song. Those guitars are going crazy as another shrad now teeters on the edge of his moustache. Will he or won't he? Yes, that's the question. As the second part of the song starts. Will he pick it up out of his moustache by hand or will his tongue automatically go for it and I know it can, to the shrad that is lodged. In the moustache. This is too much excitement. To give suitable music to the excitement, the guitars, the drums and the violins start a mad ensemble in the song. It's the interlude in the song. It's climactic. Dev Anand is trying to find who's the thief. He is also the drummer. He's multi tasking too. Like the man in the car. Some more shrads rain down as he takes a fresh bite. But the vibration hasn't caused the moustache one and the second button one to topple off. They are teetering on the edge. Edgy. Gripping. Lata swings on in the song. At high pitch. What a combo! Then it happens. So swift. That you'd blink and it would be done. Fortunately, I am watching closely. His honth (lips) press together making the moustache go into the sanctum sanctorum of the mouth and by the time he releases the honth to the accompaniment of Lata singing feverishly the same line "Honton pe Aisi baat", the shrad is in his mouth and he's chewing on it. Clean. Dunk. Gone. Even as I admire the neat process, he's already looked down and seen the shrad near his second button and picked that shrad up and put it in his mouth. Slam. Dunk. Gone. Again. It all happens so fast, all within the second yell of Bhupender Singh, "Shalu". And two snatches of violin behind. Basically, in seconds. And he's not even stopped frowning or looking away from the road. For more than the couple of seconds that he took to see his second button. Marvellous. Near impossible. Perfect. The traffic gets going. He is in gear in a flash and the car edges forward. We edge forward too. Lata Mangeshkar's singing continues. But I have already seen the climax. The rest of the song would now just be action replay in my head. Absentmindedly, I look at the car's license plate as it speeds up. TN registration. Now I know how the moustache thing was done smoothly. Khul jaaye Wohi raaz duhaai hai duhaai.. Rajanikanth country ra!!