Sandeep Vasudevan

The night, being dark and stormy, throws up the usual ornamentation: scudding clouds, distant thunder, an air of menace and lightning flashes. The last of these illuminates a figure on the top of a mountain, sleek and purring, head bulging at the back, denoting the planet-sized brain inside. A slightly cylindrical form is seen, the essence inside gleams darkly like well-oiled chocolate. The eyebrow rises imperiously, the smile dazzles at sixty paces (and calls for strong sunglasses any nearer) and the rapier wit and cunning repartee cluster eagerly around the lips, keen as mustard to burst forth into the world and spread sweetness, light and general mayhem.