Variety is the spice of life

At the beginning of every year i always lament about how drastically the climate is changing and how terrifying it is to imagine increasing summer months with increasing temperature. Edhapathi thaan nee polambama irunthirukka idhu pathi sollama irukkanulaam kekkapdaathu. Last year, around early Feb itself it began to sweat and we had to resort to air conditioners from the second month of the year itself. With the heat wave, agni natchathiram, increasing its span from the designated 20 odd days to months together, coupled with ever increasing slab rates for electricity consumption, people are not just caught between a rock and hard place, but a very hot rock at that as well. Every year, the number of months of summer, heat rather, has been on the increase with the supposedly cooler months on the reduce, but the cooler temperature are now moving towards colder temperature. The supposedly monsoon months have reduced in duration while the volume of rain has more or less remained the same, ...

On a spree to finish off the Warwick series and since the entire novel goes like an episode or a season of a drama series, posting the review of "Hidden in plain sight" , "Turn a blind eye" and "Over my dead body" as a combined one. The series follow a set template with William Warwick, getting introduced with a promotion to next level and being moved from one squad to another. If he was in Artefacts and rare paintings squad in the previous one, and then goes undercover to expose the black sheep in police department to Drugs division. His team of officers remain the same and they tag along with him, under the leadership of Hawksby. Alongside the regular recurring foe of Miles Faulkner, there is another villain in this book, Rashidi, who happens to be the drug kingpin. How William and team manage to arrest him, only to find him escape by the barest of loop hole made possible by Booth Watson, the knight in not so shining armour who appears as the defense cou...

After finishing "End game" the next book that i picked in the series was the very first one where William Warwick begins his career as a detective. It felt and in reality as well, as if i was watching the origin story of a new super hero comic. But not as cinematic. For those who have followed the "Clifton Chronicles" they may've a different opinion, but since i'ven't read those yet, it felt a refreshing change from the other series that i've been reading off late by different authors.  The story begins with how William enrolls as a policeman, despite his father's wish to see him as a QC(Queen's counsel). The story traces his life as a beat cop, who befriends his fellow partner and learns the tricks of trade from him. A tragedy strikes and on the last day of his beat, post which he was to be promoted to a different role, his partner is killed in a street encounter, in which William is also badly injured. After he joins Scotland yard as detect...

I saw 2 interviews which formed the basis for this post. This has been running through my mind for quite a while now and recently saw another interview which eventually resulted in writing it all up. The first interview was that of Singapore's PM Lee Kuan Yew. It was more of a snippet about his views on India. The part that grabbed my attention was how much he is surprised about India as a whole and despite all its misgivings and contradictions how it continues to surprise everyone and sets an example for the world to follow, especially with its idea of Unity in diversity. He mentioned how easy or streamlined it is for his country or countries like China/Japan or even bigger countries like Russia, where majority of the nation follows a common language and it is easy for the government to pass on their policies and ideas to their population. Whereas in a country like India, which is more of a subcontinent and more diverse than even Europe, a small region which is actually an extensi...

Last year started off in the worst way possible and the wringer through which the whole year put me through emotionally made me as numb as possible. But when god puts you in through those loops the only reason is to prep you for upcoming situations and with the learnings from previous experience, what would've been daunting and shaking in the boots kind of situations became calm and manageable. The biggest lesson was to fine tune the expectations. When we expect the least, whatever turns up has little impact on your thoughts and actions. It is like jumping from a 10 feet high place as compared to somewhere closer to ground. The jump may have its jolt but when you are closer to ground the impact would obviously be less felt right. As simple as that. At times it felt that the year will never end with excruciatingly hot summer and severely high EB bills. Especially the months of March and April felt never ending! And the second half of the years comparatively just romped past! Oru vel...

After triple confirming the author, finally the post!! But one thing for sure if i can feel slightly good about the entire fiasco being, how much i loved both the authors. I've read Grisham's earlier works as well, which are made into Hollywood blockbusters. He is a master when it involves courtroom scenes, but somehow felt the rest of the storyline to be dragging. King of Torts nu oru book. Vandha pudhusula padika start panni almost 2 decades aaguthu. Still haven't finished it. Despite the bias and the confusion regarding the previous book, Archera nenachu padichirunthalum, my opinion remains the same.  When i started "End game" i was actually skeptical, due to the wrong bias based on the previous book that i had misread as his, but within moments, was happily drawn into the storyline, despite it being the most recent one amongst the William Warwick series. Wasn't even aware that it was a series, but the way he had framed the characters and the familiarity wi...