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Sacred Games……

The series…..in Netflix….

Think an amalgamation of Gangs of Wasseypur and Satya and you will be halfway there!!….add one thousand cuss words and you will be almost there!… Then add some BOLD scenes just for making it spicy then your will reach Sacred games!!..

From abuse to bullets to gore exemplified to dead bodies falling like dominos to a controversial admixture of real events and politics; you have everything in a nice spicy package!…

After a while though the cuss words become forced and dated…..and frankly annoying!….but the realistic portrayal of the ways of police, politics and gang bangs is refreshing and new…. But maybe next time everyone concentrate more on story rather than just sex and violence and it will be more palatable to the general public…..

So binge watching eight episodes each lasting close to an hour was a good way to start my Netflix subscription!!…

So watch it only if you have close to 8 hours to spare!….also don’t expect a closure!…. This is just the beginning!…

Also like GOT, do not get used to any character!…..he or she may die before your can say Ganesh!!….

Sacred Games……

The series…..in Netflix….

Think an amalgamation of Gangs of Wasseypur and Satya and you will be halfway there!!….add one thousand cuss words and you will be almost there!… Then add some BOLD scenes just for making it spicy then your will reach Sacred games!!..

From abuse to bullets to gore exemplified to dead bodies falling like dominos to a controversial admixture of real events and politics; you have everything in a nice spicy package!…

After a while though the cuss words become forced and dated…..and frankly annoying!….but the realistic portrayal of the ways of police, politics and gang bangs is refreshing and new…. But maybe next time everyone concentrate more on story rather than just sex and violence and it will be more palatable to the general public…..

So binge watching eight episodes each lasting close to an hour was a good way to start my Netflix subscription!!…

So watch it only if you have close to 8 hours to spare!….also don’t expect a closure!…. This is just the beginning!…

Also like GOT, do not get used to any character!…..he or she may die before your can say Ganesh!!….

The name of the game is Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino….

Book review

Rating 2/5

No spoilers……!

This is it…the last translated novel of Keigo!…a novel called Newcomer is in the pipeline but I know the wait is going to be agonizingly slow!….

When I read Devotion of suspect X I had half a mind to learn Japanese so that I can read his other original novels!….. But after this last one I am prepared to wait!…

Not that this is a bad novel but the initial zest and fervor of his previous novels especially Devotion and Midnight Sun is lacking…

You do have the usual twists and turns and an unexpected out of the blue ending but then there’s something missing….it’s like a bland pizza with little flavours of Oregano seasoning but somehow the salt is on the lower side!…(reminder to self to never write a review when hungry to avoid such food references!!)

As the name suggests, there is a kidnapping, there is a game and of course since it’s Keigo, there are twists…

So while some specks of brilliance are there, this one is just another of those side projects am sure with a relatively open ending!…

If you have finished the others then finish this one just for completion sake…the good news is that it’s just around 200 pages long with not many characters (in Japanese that’s childsplay!)….

I have placed Keigo Higashino on a pedestal is the root of all problems!…. The reader should not make this mistake and then everything will be bliss….!!

So read on Nippon!!…

Emergency by COOMI KAPOOR

First some background information; Coomi is a journalist working in Indian Express… One of the few newspapers which did not accept the 20 point and censorship of the Madam and faces immense difficulty due to that.

Her husband was also one of the journalists arrested by putting a frivolous case by a high and mighty individual of the Coterie gang.(you would understand that quote when you read)

Her co brother is the famous Subramanian Swamy who was one of the heroes of Emergency protest!

In an adventure streak akin to a movie, he hoodwinked the entire emergency machinery to emerge a hero of sorts!…

So now we begin this retelling of one of the darkest hours of Indian democracy…some comparisons are even worse than the atrocities committed by the British….

So next time many of my blind friends comment that the situation now is like emergency I would sincerely advice them to at least go though this mind blowing personal detailing of the atrocities of the Madam and her son…..

The court judgement which started it all…how it was manipulated and made into a drama of sorts….

How even the best commission called the Shah Commission report was crushed and burnt..

How a movie depicting this was seized and burnt by the prodigal son..

How the son made mockery of democracy and started Maruti as his pet hobby and made sure everyone was arm twisted into investing in this….(more in the book…)

The absolute censorship of the media…. First two days the electrical and water supply to the media houses were cut!… Then only the Raj approved news were allowed!!…

How (and why!!) Pranab Mukherjee tried to white wash the emergency in his book….

How massive sterilization camps were done with numbers and targets with guns and force….one widower was forced to do it only to end up dead on the table….no one batted an eyelid in spite of these atrocities….

How opposition was crushed worsen than the quit India struggle.

JP…a well respected leader who was arrested healthy and released years later with diabetes and damaged kidneys…

Vajpayee…..was arrested again healthy then house arrested after unnecessary surgery for appendix, then septicemia then slipped disc….. Body and mind both broken….

So many other leaders were arrested and kept in solitary….or sharing room with other prisoners withn a small stinky room with a hole in the ground serving as toilet…..Beaten,bruised and CBI and income tax department used as their own personal errand boys..

The worst was when in a zeal to catch George F, his brother was picked up and tortured without arrest and when he asked for water the constable was told to URINATE IN HIS MOUTH!…. Yes you read it right….sad brutal Raj and nothing else…

The licence Raj, the commission, the curruption and the atrocities leading to many physical and mental trauma and many times death…..

Students not getting permission to write exams, wrong arrests, wrong evictions, illegal slum clearance, no bail, instant re-arrests…..if you have a crime by a government to the innocent you can make it here…..

This was emergency….the dictatorship of a power hungry few who have thought that ruling this country is their birthright…

Kudos to Coomi for getting the emotions right in this one….don’t ever give it a miss….don’t forget…ever…don’t forgive….ever……

A midsummer’s equation by Keigo Higashino….

A quiet little place in a dull country side, an old family run inn, an environmental protection team, an eccentric but genius scientist and detective and finally the most important….an accidental death!…or was it an accident!??..

So from being a routine run of the mill novel about some minor mix up, this turns out to be a twist and turn extravaganza as expected from Keigo!….

By now the only good point is that I have gotten used to the Japanese names and gender to a good degree!… And since this one is only around 300 pages long, it’s not very confusing!…

Like we have been taught in tonsillectomy that every dissection must yield result, you can be rest assured that every query or statement from the quirky Galileo is bound to mean something!…

So whilst a lot of time and pages are wasted in things not even close to the murder, you can still forgive the author in beating around the bush (to a certain extent of course!!)

Like his earlier novel especially the last one called Journey under the midnight sun, here also Keigo gives an important place and character to the young ones (mini spoiler!!)….. In fact at the very beginning it seemed like a John Grisham novel of the Theodre Boone series!… But that’s John and this is Keigo!…. It’s like Messi and Ronaldo!…. Both play their games in their own delightful ways!!…

This is the penultimate book by Keigo translated in english!… Only one more to go and I would have completed the whole set!… Of course a new translation called Newcomer is on the offing in August but we shall board the train when the time comes!…

For now read this to get a feel of Japanese country side, sea shore, tourism and of course the Japanese twister Keigo….

Journey under the midnight sun by Keigo Higashino…..

First things first…. Have a bone of contention to pick with the translator!!
When he translated the novel from Japanese why oh why couldn’t he change the names of the characters!…
When it was a smaller novel of around 200 pages it was easy to progress but this one is a 600 page behemoth with so many characters that you get so confused!..

Coming to the bone (of contention that is!!); So I primary confusion is that the names of the characters are so similar!.. Just one or two words and it’s a complete different person (or was it a place!??)…
To add to the fact that most of the names are gender neutral!… Many times until the character gets a feminine tone I still don’t know whether it’s a gal or a guy!!..

Then there are big time warps!… one moment you are reading about the present and the next chapter is something which happens three or ten or even twenty years later! (Don’t worry it’s not a big spoiler!! But actually a helper!!)..

With so many characters, though the actual main ones are only the two dark love birds! (Major semi spoiler!!), It gets tedious to get the drift…

But good things do come so After around three hundred pages you get the story!… Then it’s a breeze and the pace is both tolerable and understandable!!…

Though he has been compared to Steig Larsson, the storyline reminds me of a Sidney Sheldon or Jeff Archer’s style!… This was when I found out that the story was actually written in series and finally put together as one piece!… Then it all made sense!…

Coming to the story as such, since it’s Keigo Higashino you can be rest assured that everything is not so direct or straightforward!… You can never tell the murderer (the first one of course!) At least in the first four hundred pages!…

Then when you start getting the dark dark picture you are literally thrown into an amalgamation of computer crimes, stabbings, sexual perversions, grim people with dark pasts!, Adultery galore!, And finally the two missing pieces beauty and the beast of the actual puzzle!….

The title though is so apt….kudos to Keigo for that…..

So if you have lots of time to kill and want to spend that time alone in the company of a book then this one is for you…

You can tell me Aarigato later!…or not!!

Salvation of a saint by Keigo Higashino…..

After that big Argentinian debacle you definitely need a salvation of sorts!… Of course Keigo doesn’t disappoint!…

So in the first novel you have a devotion to the killer and in the second you have pure Malice!; In this one I am sure the feeling will be mixed!!….

In any murder esp at home, the number one suspect (by hook or by crook!) Is almost always the spouse! (Or is it!??… Don’t want to spoil your reading!!)

It’s clear though that in Keigo Higashino’s work the murder and the killer are never the mystery!… The mysteries and the thrills and more importantly the bizarre twists is in the planning and the motive!….
The lengths to which someone would go to plan and execute a murder is a very uphill task indeed and not for the fickle minded if you get my drift!….

But even Keigo has pushed the limits in this one!….. The motive and the method is so surreal!…

Like in his previous novels, it is clear that if it wasn’t for the persistence of one or more of the detectives, the case would never have been solved!….I am sure in the real world this would have been an ardous task indeed!…. The pile of unsolved cases in any station is a testimony to this!…

All I couldn’t understand is the title!… Who’s the Saint and who got salvation!!?…. someone whose thoughts gets filtered!?…

Read it to get it!…. salvation that is!!….

Malice by Keigo Higashino….

First you have a narrator who narrates you of a simple murder….. Then you have a minor twist then you have a major twist then you have a ultra major twist and finally everything you read till now is actually the biggest twist!…

What a ride it is to read Keigo Higashino!… My only regret is that I don’t know Japanese!… So what we get to read is the translation!… Just imagine if the translation is so good then the original would have been dynamite!!…

Without giving spoilers I cannot even begin to review this masterpiece!… It reminds me of this Hindi movie (very underrated but extremely well made I would say!)….. Its about a couple on their holiday who are Pegged into a game which promises them riches but ruins their life!…. It was finally because they had ragged the rich guy’s son who had become mentally unstable because of that!… How this sets into the story is for you to read and realise!….

The devotion of suspect x is not a coincidence!….Keigo is not a one novel wonder!… He is the real deal and he is here to stay!….

The best part is that the author makes everyone intelligent!… The person who narrates, the murderer, the detective who investigates and most of all the reader!… This is a refreshing change and for someone like me who has been trying to complete a novel for years now the bar has been raised higher!…. Of course the best thing is to get inspired!….

The best part of the story is how the characterization of a particular person in the storyline is done by a single incident is just mind blowing to say the least!….. All of 190 pages you had this set impression about the murdered guy and in the last few pages it just gets a complete opposite turn!….

Also interesting is how so many plausible sub plots and novel ideas have been dealt with such aplomb!…. Each one could have become a best seller in proper hands (read Keigo!!)

Gearing up for the next one!….keep em coming Keigo!…. You rock big time!!…..

The devotion of suspect x by Keigo Higashino….

Once in a while you read a novel that literally takes your breath away and makes your raise the bar of expectations from other stories!!..

This multi award winning novel (with even a movie) was in my reading list for ages!… The original was in Japanese though and the English translation is good too!!…

Ever since I saw the Malayalam movie Drishyam (one of my favourites ever!) And read about this novel in the Wikipedia page I was earnestly waiting to read this one!…. But it took three years to finally get to it!…. Better late than never!!…

This is no longer the era of whodunit or a simple murder!… You have a victim and you have a murderer!….. But this is the age of twists and being twisted!….a simple momentary lapse of emotion leads to a murder and the whole plot shifts from that to the brilliant mathematician (mild spoiler alert!) Who finally just controls the various outcomes of the investigations just like a mathematical equation!!…..

It’s just mind blowing how every aspect of investigation is being contoured and tinted in the direction which has been pushed without any effort by the protagonist!….

At the end of it all everything is just logic and calculations without emotion though the whole set up was in fact the result of a big emotional deluge!!…

So we have a single parent divorced mother who gets threatened by her ex husband and one thing leads to another and you have a murder…… Just like Dhrishyam, the lead tries to make rock solid alibis and remotely controls every aspect of the investigation….

The best part here is that he even manages to Change the date of murder!!….(don’t worry that’s not a big spoiler!!)….in the movie the suspects stood the investigation team with firmness since they had actually done the things they were describing, like watching movie or having a particular food in a particular restaurant!… Only thing they had to remember that the date was different!..

But in the novel by a big twist the suspects just had to narrate everyone what they did without any date change!…how he managed to do that is the biggest spoiler!….

Many though would ask why to spend so much time and resources in finding the killer of a wastrel who probably deserved it when there were so many bigger cases to solve!…..

So what you think as a Geometric pattern is actually algebra apparently!!…

Don’t miss this for the world!!…

The coalition years…by Pranab Mukherjee

This was in quick succession!…I had just finished the dramatic decade by him which was like a decade but not much drama!!…

This one follows that book with no change either in the narrative or in the outcome!…no secrets revealed, no controversy stated and being neutral is the in thing apparently!!!…

The book almost follows a set pattern of reprinting the diary of anyone who has penned down what he or she did that day!… sometimes you may get some deviations but that’s rare and not important!….At this rate the next book may even look into his dietary schedule!!

Lots of jobs have been done by Pranab Da as defence minister and then the finance minister and it has been tabled in kind in the book…..it goes without saying that those were jobs well done but that’s something expected from someone of the stature of Pranab Mukherjee…it’s like the Pilot announcing the he or she will be cruising at some speed and landing soon!…. and we in the plane are thinking, “whatever works buddy!… Just do your job and land the plane without crashing!!”

I guess after more than six decades of working and being with a single party and being the faithful worker it goes without saying that some recognition was due….in fact this is late… But then in our country it’s always better late than never…

The most interesting part of the book however (according to me of course!) Was the discussion involving GST, MNRGEA, the Lokpal Bill, ADHAR and the nuclear testing and NPT…..just to get the gist of these important events you can read the whole book!…

Of course it ends with his becoming the President and I am guessing since he is relatively free now, another book may be inthe pipeline!….and I fervently hope that it will not just be another Dear Diary of sorts…

The fight with Mam di was not even a Mole Hill!…..started with not even a bang and ended just as silently!….. barking canines analogy holds good here!….

A better book was the accidental prime minister!…if you have not read it then don’t read it yet!…. finish this first and then you can read that one to get the real picture!!…

What a coalition it was!….