Variety is the spice of life

If there is one book that makes me relive it, every time I even think about it, that would be “Devotion of Suspect X” by Keigo Higashino. The book has been made into several movies, some direct adaptations, some are pirated/inspired versions. But each of those versions have set their own mark on box office with “Drishyam” series (Papanasam in tamil) being the case for India. That the director of those series never officially acknowledged the movie to be an adaptation of the book, might’ve probably led to the direct adaptation to be made so soon and launched in India with Drishyam 2 (Hindi) being a more recent launch which was based on the premise of aftermath of the first part.  Jaane Jaan, as mentioned in the title card itself, is a very close adaptation of the book, right from its setting to its characterization. The director has chosen Eastern part of India as the setting, with majority of cast member being of Mongoloid features. The primary character being a martial arts specia...

The latest installment of the Harry Hole series by Nesbo is by far one of the biggest as well. There are few authors whom I keep a tab on as they quite regularly churn out new books. The list includes Keigo Higashino, James Rollins, Matthew Reilley, Peter Swanson and Jo Nesbo. Of this lot, Matt Reilley, having completed his Jack West Jr. series, is on a silent mode. I’ve read almost all the English translated works of Keigo and haven’t come across any new book for a long while now. Nesbo took almost 2 years to produce this book since his last one (Knife) on Harry hole series. Peter Swanson and Rollins are in factory mode with at least one book every 12 months. I am big fan of the sigma series of Rollins and possibly the next post would be on the latest installment. Coming back to Killing moon, it has all the ingredients of a typical Harry hole thriller. To quote the producer of Varisu movie – Gruesome murders irukka – irukku. Physical abuse irukka – irukku. Harry sleeping with his asso...

Gerascophobia. By the ending syllable one can easily figure out it is the name of a type of fear. It is probably one of the most famous fears of all times, stretching across centuries, spawning many a fairy tale and quest, something that most of silver screen actors are afraid off and narcissistic rich people try to fight against, a fear that has successfully fueled an entire industry called cosmetics – ageing. That big word, scary as it is by its size, is the term that relates to the fear of ageing. Be it our puranas or in some fairy tales across any region, ageing and the fight of humans to resist the same, has been a recurring theme, that has extended well into this AI age as well. It doesn’t just restrict to looks or glamour that comes with youth. It doesn’t just means having the vigor or strength that one enjoys in their prime. In a narrow cliched sliver of a sample, it also is caused due to the responsibilities and roles that comes with advancement in age and the lack of knowledg...

Junior is very fond of jokes. A steady “diet” of Suppandi comics, in addition to Tinkle has only increased his appetite for jokes. He takes pride in remembering “kadi” jokes in English and cracks them at school. He claims that his classmates call him “jokester”, which could’ve probably be a self-anointed one!! From what I notice, he seems to pick the responses well and immediately identified those that doesn’t land. One day while out on a walk with him, he said something about dwindling insect population, and I was calmly listening. After a while he asked why I didn’t laugh!! I got confused and asked him why I should laugh for a fact. He then said, it was a joke on reducing number of insects and he has made it based on a scene from some cartoon! Then only I realized how serious he is in framing his own jokes! As usual I was droning on about how a joke is made basis my own understanding, which wasn’t convincing even for me. He was having a confused look on his face and asked how I’ve wo...

I often associate anger with fear. The more afraid you are, chances of you being short tempered are quite high, for any fear of misstep may trigger the short fuse, as a defense mechanism to protect one’s ego. On the other hand, the stronger your self-belief, the calmer you are, and it also imbibes a sense of compassion and empathy as well in the individual. For you to love and empathize with others, you need to have a sense of conviction about your own self and confident in your abilities. Without being self-assured it is not possible to provide assurance to others. All these observations are based on closely watching the activities of 2 people who literally mean the world to me. One is my sister and other is my best half. Both have same sense of duty consciousness and ability to impress by sheer perseverance and honesty. They have a nagging sense of idealism and are dead right honest to their work. Both have huge fan following amidst their respective org customers, who literally queue...