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Deep Fathom by James Rollins

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One of the earlier books of Rollins before he started the Sigma series. There is a downside to success, that it makes you becoming restricted in your thought process, especially true for those in writing industry in the aftermath of hitting bulls eye with a successful launch of a series. You end up restricting your thought process to the set of characters and beyond a point it can't be stretched unless newer characters are introduced which ends up diluting the whole lot. You cannot simply offer the scope and limelight for every character and in fact have to pander to the characterisation of the popular of the lot, which results in the ultimate story line being compromised to certain extent. In the beginning books of the sigma series, the first chapter will set the tone for the book, with an impossible plot or an unimaginable level of danger, involving known places, people or situations. The Sigma series led by Gray and later by Siechan, will travel the length and breadth of the wor...
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Of heroes and villains

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 I often used to wonder, all those super spies, how do they manage their daily routines, especially in midst of a major action. Sometimes, they are shown to go without sleep for several hours and there are rarely any note about their food habits. But they will be shown as connoisseurs of drinks and have in depth knowledge of several types of cuisines that they will proudly display to impress the villain or his spouse (especially James Bond) many of whose scenes and situations would be depicted around the dining table. While hero would be actively in pursuit, the villain would be shown as sitting and pondering or lashing at this cronies for having either lost to the hero or secretly planning his next action from dining table. Except for James Bond who made the shaken but not stirred Martini, there are hardly any other famous hero character who are known for their taste in any other routine like normal human beings. One reason that i felt was, rather than depicting how they get up, b...
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Musical decade

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I can say with all confidence that when it comes to cine music, my generation(!!) was the blessed one, for they were able to witness magic made live by great music directors of previous generations who were masters of melody, like MSV, KV, supposedly newbie, like Ilayaraja who successfully managed to bridge classical with western blending it with local dappankuthu, and his famed "assistant" ARR, who literally swayed the nation to his techno tunes and his peers who came after him like Harris Jayaraj, if you add Deva, Shankar Ganesh, and several other small players who had their moments in the sun, these giants literally ruled the movie music world and most of them are still active, even though their best of days are long behind them.  The taste in music is one clear parameter that defines ageing is my strong belief. The more one dislikes the music of the next generation, the faster they are becoming old is "Gils law". My dad never really liked Ilayaraja for he rarely...
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The rise and fall of superstars

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 Be it SRK or Aamir they rode on the crest of a set of movies that took them to topmost tier of superstardom. While SRK took to love subjects and catering to NRI audience, aided ably by simple dance steps of Farah and pleasant lyrics of Javed Akthar tuned to hummable songs by a plethora of musicians including Jatin-lalit to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy to ARR, Aamir took a more studious route, picking up stories like PhD subjects and dwelling more on the detailing and characterisation that set him apart in the Khan trio. Salman took the easiest route of all, remake southern hits and rehash the same hit into various versions in hindi. For a good part of previous decade and before, the trio ruled the BO with ever increasing foot falls and ticket revenue. The first to fall off the tier was Salman, whose masala movies began to bomb abruptly. SRK had a string of failures and interestingly he found success in the same formula that propped Salman - action movies. Aamir, despite choosing the script ...
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Excavation by James Rollins

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The thing with having a bad memory is you get to relive as if the happenings are new and start afresh. It is especially helpful in cases of book that gives you additional joy of re-reading it as if for the first time, enjoying the same thrill that you might've felt when you read them prior. But the sad part is, if you'ven't remembered reading the book, chances are there that it might be one to forget as well and you might've not finished it for it could've been boring. With "Excavation" i am not sure in which category it falls under!!! Either way, having finished the book, i felt it was worth posting about. It all begins in typical Rollins fashion of a monk in run from natives, trying to protect or hide something that would cause the end of world, but would leave enough clues for future generations to find it out eventually!!! He commits suicide atop a sacred shrine of the native Mayans/Incas/Aztecs?? Edho oru tribe of that time. Right from there begins th...
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Jest junior things

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 It has been a while since we disconnected cable tv at home relying wholely and solely on internet for tv subscription and viewing. And we didnt even realize that we have moved away from regular TV channels like Sun or Vijay till the time this incident happened, for mom, who regularly watches only Vijay, now has switched over to Hotstar app and doesn't even switch on TV!! It's all available within her palm at the touch of a screen. I am the only person who watches TV that too not on a regular basis, but to watch any sports or news. One day while browsing over the channel list i saw Anniyan movie playing on K TV and looking at references to Garuda Puranam, Junior was curious about the movie and said let that channel play. When the owner of the remote himself has decided, that wish obviously becomes the command right! After a while he came to me complaining that the TV was broke and something is wrong. I could hear that something was playing and was wondering whether the picture ...
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Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

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After so many years yet another Dan Brown novel and based on who else but the redoubtable Robert Langdon, whose eidetic memory and the speed with which he could link clues would put any processor to shame!! This time, after several books, he finally finds his pair, Katherine Solomon, who, if i am right, is only the second recurring character, apart from Langdon, obviously. She is a renowned noetic scientist and if "Origin" was pushing the boundaries with its theme, you should read this book!!!  There were previous instances, especially the books leading to "Origin" were Brown was dwelling more on the creation moving slightly away from the creator, dabbling more into the sciences associated with that porous topic that is finding firm footing as we speak and is more evident in this book. As science advances more into unchartered territories, nothing could be more interesting or complex than what goes inside one's mind. As much as they try to explore the world beyo...
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