Spies in Slovenia

Today's interesting news comes from Slovenia, where it is reported that the spies have gone on strike. I wonder how spies take revenge for low pay - do they reveal the secrets which they have accumulated over the years, put it out on public domain. Or perhaps spy on their masters, which I suspect they may be doing it anyways.  

The Island

Victoria Hislop has written a gut wrenching story about a family history that is full of tragedy, from having to deal with the incurable disease of leprosy, being confined to a separate leper's island, the scourge of the disease, its impact on family relationships, families torn asunder, distraught of the husband at having to visit his wife in a leper's island every week, in order to deliver supplies, yet not being able to embrace or touch each other, one family having two people suffering from that disease, one sister not being on good terms with the other one, one sister's engagement broken off, yet also of love, abundant love of the family to deal with the crises, the positive feelings of improving their own lives, friendships that last beyond anything, cures being found, redemption, catharsis. Goodreads 4/5

The Count of Monte Cristo

Finished reading a fascinating book by Alexandre Dumas "The Count of Monte Cristo" a book of love, deception, revenge and murder - tragic characters in the book - an absolute page turner - it is a timeless classic as relevant today as it was when it was written in 1844. It focuses on a man who is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes from jail, acquires a fortune, and then sets about getting revenge against those responsible for his wrongful confinement. Goodreads 5/5

Murder in Mesopotamia

Agatha Christie is on familiar ground when she covers murders in rural England which is her speciality - unfortunately "Murder in Mesopotamia" is a story based in Iraq on an archeological site - a murder takes place and Hercule Poirot is travelling some place nearby - so he comes in and solves the crime in his inimitable style - Christie maintains the suspense till the end in every book of hers - same is true of this one as well. Goodreads 4/5

Echoes in the Darkness

Just finished reading a true crime story by Joseph Wambaugh - "Echoes in the Darkness". This book is regarding the murder mystery of Susan Reinert a divorced school teacher and her two children Karen and Michael who were never found since that fateful day in June 1979. She was having a secret affair with another school teacher William Bradfield who was famous for his numerous flings with women. He was having another secret affair with another teacher Sue Myers and this after having two failed marriages in the past. Whilst he was juggling with the two teachers he started and successfully carried two more affairs both with students of the Upper Merion High School in Main Line, Philadelphia where they were all enrolled. One of the student was a minor when he started his affair, but all his women swore by his affections. The principal of the school was Jay Smith an ex-army officer and quite a character in himself with revelations of sexual escapades and fantasies, shoplifting and his own daughter Stephanie and son-in-law Eddie Hunsberger were never found – it was alleged that Smith had murdered his daughter and son-in-law but they just vanished from the face of earth and were never found to this day. The prosecution had to rely on circumstantial evidence in this case. Much of the book in the first half is devoted to the peccadilloes of William Bradfield and Jay Smith in conjuring up their images as crazy, demented individuals. Goodreads 5/5 

Just a Matter of Time

“Just a matter of time” by james Hadley chase is a book i picked up from the flea stall near churchgate station for rupees 20/- and i am a big fan of james Hadley chase. It is a short book of 190 pages which typically is the average size of chase books. Chase does not disappoint again. He is unarguably the best story teller with fast paced stories which typically involves crime, intrigue, suspense, blackmail, sex and he typically writes about the under dregs of society. Mrs. Morely Johnson is an almost blind widower with loads of money, jewellery, paintings, investments and only one heir, a nephew who is a good for nothing fella, so she disowns him in the will, most of which goes to charity a few to the investment banker who takes care of her investments. Assorted characters descend on the plot in the form of driver, nurse one of whom is a master forger and the other a sex bomb. The plot moves inextricably fast from one scheme gone good to another gone awry into an interesting climax. I would rate it 5/5 and chase fans don’t need a second recommendation at all – if they are like me, they would devour all of james Hadley chase books. 

Bear Island

Just finished reading “Bear Island” by Alistair Maclean my favourite author.  Dr. Marlowe is a doctor on board a fishing trawler Morning Rose which is headed towards Bear Island in Barents Sea for some film shooting of which nobody knows what the script is about. Enroute, the film crew start getting murdered one after another in mysterious circumstances. The plot gets murkier when the crew lands on the inhospitable and alien Bear Island and the murders continue. Written in first person narrative, Maclean gradually lets the suspense out one after another taking the story to some connection in post war Europe. A gripping enthralling book, a typically pot boiler by Alistair Maclean. Rating 5/5 – Highly Recommended

Fathers and Sons

This is a brilliant book dealing with the love of fathers towards their sons. Arcady and Bazarov return to Arcady's father's house in rural hinterland of mid-19th century. They are idealistic and have developed a nihilistic approach in life where Arcady is in awe of Bazarov. Arcady's father Nicholas and Paul are old timers who have modernised by freeing serfs and Nicholas loves his son but is upset when both Arcady and Bazarov decide to leave their home to go to a neighbour where they visit Anna Sergeyevna who is a widow where surprisingly Bazarov falls madly in love with Anna who is older to him and Arcady has a crush on Anna but slowly moves towards Katya, Anna's sister. Falling in love was like an anathema to Bazarov due to his nihilistic leanings, so both of them come back to Arcady's house. In between Bazarov visits his old parents Vassily Ivanich and Arina Vlassyevna his father and mother. His parents are old and they are deliriously excited to have Bazarov back and shower him with blessings and love which Bazarov likes in the beginning but starts detesting later on, again his nihilistic leanings throwing him against his own parents. The interplay between Bazarov and his parents and their emotions which Bazarov so cruelly crushes is where "Fathers and Sons" achieves greatness. Turgenev has written beautifully and movingly and it would be difficult not to get emotionally involved in this father-son interlude. Love of a father towards his offspring is greater than any idealism that this world produces in mid-19th century or even now in the early 21st century and this is what makes Turgenev's book timeless. "He has abandoned us, he has abandoned us" quivered Vassily Ivanich when Bazarov leaves his home  - this was an absolutely gut wrenching part of the book. After Anna rejects his love due to her strong independence, Bazarov returns to Arcady's house and falls in love again with Nicholas's young mistress whom he kisses which is seen by Paul who detests Bazarov for his arrogance and his anti-authority views. Bazarov is forced to leave Arcady's house due to a gun duel with Paul. What happens to Bazarov, Arcady and their old parents - this book is highly recommended - a Russian classic - my rating 5/5

The Sacred Bones

The Sacred Bones by Michael Byrnes is a fast paced historical fiction book dating back to the biblical times. An explosion takes place below Jerusalem's Temple Mount, a melting point for three religions viz. Christianity, Islam & Judaism. An ossuary is stolen from that place which contains sacred bones, some fragments,  a scroll etc. The ossuary is ferreted out of Jerusalem into the Vatican to be examined by America's top forensic scientist Charlotte Hennessey alongwith Italian anthrolopologist Giovanni Bersei. As they proceed to examine the skeleton, they slowly come to realisation that it could be something very paramount. Meanwhile the Islamic faith ask a British archaeologist Graham Burton to examine the site which was bombed for clues. The plot unravels quickly with deep explanations about the biblical importance and significance of Jesus Christ crucifixion and resurrection after three days.  Vatican priests are involved with Islamic leaders and Jewish police in this plot. The narrative is bilinear involving the investigations at the Vatican level and at the Jerusalem level. But the biblical facts are little difficult to understand for somebody like me. But its a courageous book just like the Da Vinci Code of Dan Brown. I cannot comprehend what would have been the reaction had such a historically controversial fiction book been written about my religious gods. Goodreads 4/5 

The Accidental Billionaires

Just finished reading the brilliant biography of the founding of Facebook "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. The book cover says "Sex, money, betrayal and the founding of the Facebook". Sex and money are definitely not connected to the founding of the facebook though money is all pervasive connection because of the greed factor. Mark Zukerberg is portrayed as a near genius programmer but with little flair for business. Business ethics and gentlemen's agreement is the basis on which betrayal is suggested. But i guess any business has to be founded on the blood and guts of somebody and it is blood of one person and guts of another. I hope young entrepreneurs or wannabe entrepreneurs do not get ideas on how to found their business upon reading this book. But Indian readers might as well say - "aa ma soo che, aa tho bhadha normal che na bhai!!" Nice narrative style of Mezrich makes for compelling reading. Goodreads 5/5

The $100 Start Up

Just finished reading "$100 start up" by Chris Guillebeau - this guy is a successful serial micro entrepreneur and the book has lots of insights on building a business with very little investment, as low as $100 or even less. All it requires is ideas, a solid product, which people want and which gives value to people. So there should be a want and it should carry value. He takes the reader through the entire process of building a small business with examples from various such micropreneurs who have successfully built their businesses. Its an online world so all it takes is passion with a desire to build business. Some cases are accidental in the sense that people study for one thing, they have passion in another area and it is a cross between choosing a boring day job or pursuing your passion. Highly recommended for would be micro entrepreneurs. Goodreads 3/5

14 Hours - An Insider's Account of the Taj Attack

Just finished reading this book by Ankur Chawla - I had expected a gripping saga of the greatest attack on Indian soil since independence but not totally disappointed. He has tried his best to give a nice narrative account of his experience inside the Taj Mahal Hotel in Colaba, Mumbai and succeeded also to some extent. It is obviously his first attempt at writing a book and being a young hotelier I will give full credit to his composure during the worst travail of his life. There are some genuine attempts at humour and it works very well. Goodreads 3/5

Turbaned Tornado

This book "Turbaned Tornado" is a biography of the famous Indian marathoner who ran a marathon at 100 years, Fauja Singh. The writer Kushwant Singh is not the same famous Indian journalist and writer of the same name. It is a nice narrative of the early life of Fauja Singh, how he travelled to London after the death of his loving wife and started running marathons at the age of 89 when most of us would rather be more comfortable walking with a stick!! Fauja is an indomitable spirit and his farmers' genes help him in becoming a rare sportsman and brand ambassador more famous than sportspersons three or four generations younger than him. His timing of 5.20 hours at the age of 94 is the stuff made of legends. He was denied the Guiness world record for being the oldest marathoner, due to lack of his birth documents.  Fauja Singh is truly a great sportsman of India and reading his biography is very refreshing.  Goodreads 5/5

The Heart of the Dales

Heart of the Dales is my second one of the Dales series by Gervase Phinn. He continues with his stories about his life as a school inspector in the Yorkshire Dales. There are good characters and bad characters but never evil characters, and always it is the children who steal the thunder in his eyes. He liberally sprinkles Yorkshire accent to lend variety to his stories and it is the lesser fortunate children who become heroes. These are nice feel good stories, light hearted, with a dash of the typical British humour thrown in. Stories from small villages reminds one of RK Narayan and his Malgudi village stories. Goodreads 5/5 

The Way Through the Woods

Just finished reading "The Way Through the Woods" by Colin Dexter, my first one of him. It is an Inspector Morse mystery. It is a mystery about a sudden disappearance of a Swedish maiden in England but the case comes to life fully one year after her exit for whatever reasons. Dexter has a different style of writing compared to others such as Agatha Christie, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle etc. in the sense that he keeps on dropping some hints here and there by weaving in and out of the story by juxtaposing with riddles etc. The plot keeps the reader in suspense and I like his interplay with relevant quotes at the beginning of each chapter. I would say that Dexter is a "dexterous" writer in that sense.  Goodreads 3/5

Absolute Power

Absolute Power is a 1997 thriller starring Clint Eastwood, Laura Linney, Gene Hackman among others based on the book by David Baldacci. Clint Eastwood is Luther Whitney a master thief, who goes into the mansion of billionaire Walter Sullivan in order to rob his jewels and cash. While there he witnesses a murder scene involving the President of the United States and Walter's young wife. Walter happens to be a close friend of the President and was in fact responsible for putting him in the White House. The President and Walter's wife are both inebriated and try to have sex but it goes wrong, a scuffle takes place between the two and in the process secret service agents break into the bedroom and fire shot which kills Walter's wife. Meanwhile Luther has witnessed all these and he escapes from there subtly while picking up the pen knife which was used in the scuffle. Luther has a daughter Kate (Laura Linney) who is a public prosecutor but who is also estranged from her father. Meanwhile detective Seth Frank (Ed Harris) starts investigation of the event. Kate agrees to meet her father at a café but while there he is shot at by two people, one of them being secret service agent and another a sharp shooter hired by Walter. Kate is then forced off her car into a cliff which seriously injures her. Luther saves her and is at the hospital when one of the secret service guy tries to kill her there, but Luther intercepts and puts him to rest. The case reaches its conclusion when Luther becomes the stand by driver of Walter and tells him the whole story. Nice gripping movie with good performances by Clint Eastwood and Laura Linney. 

Marathon Man

"Marathon Man" is by Bill Rodgers otherwise known as Boston Billy who won the Boston and New York Marathons 4 times each in the late 70s. Boston Billy has personally autographed this book which was given to my dear friend Bhasker Desai who had ran at this year i.e. 2013 Boston Marathon. Bhasker finished the race and was in the medical tent when the bomb blast took place.

It is a very enchanting and enthralling book with a throbbing narrative in collaboration with Mathew Shepatin. Basically it is an account of his early life and his Boston marathon experience of 1975. The narrative is very interesting in the sense that each chapter starts with his Boston 1975 progress during the race and the later part of the chapter devotes to flashback to his early life as a college student, running with Amby Burfoot who is his original inspiration, his "conscientious objector" status during the Vietnam war, his degree at special education, struggle at getting a job etc. He was a natural born runner with a great capacity for hard work and a body which could take any amount of hard work with very little injuries. The realisation that he could be a top notch marathon runner came to him only during a race with Amby Burfoot in which he raced alongside the great Amby for about 15 miles of a 20 mile race. The seeds of inspiration which Amby sowed in him made him take up competitive racing including marathons. Boston Billy alongwith Frank Shorter, Amby Burfoot and Jeff Galloway were the pioneers of long distance running first in America which then spread to other cities in the world which has since then grown exponentially. His latter attempts at Montreal Olympics of 1976 and thereafter founding a successful running business alongwith his college buddies makes for a good story. It is an excellent book, very inspirational, very nice story of an easy going hardworking American who loves running dearly. Highly recommended for anybody into long distance running. Goodreads 5/5

The Sleeping Doll

I like Jeffery Deaver books because he provides so much of twists, double twists, re-twist, reverse twists to the plot that you actually wonder where it is leading to. His Lincoln Rhyme the master criminologist series were all good books. This one featured Kathryn Dance, interrogator and kinesics expert - a kind of study of body language. Daniel Pell has been incarcerated in Capitola jail for mass murders of a wealthy family, the Croytons of whom he left only little girl behind, who was hiding behind dolls, and hence the name of the book. From the book cover, you may think it is a horror book, but thankfully it is not. Pell manages to get  himself to another facility for interrogation by Dance but in the process he escapes and thereafter the plot starts getting interesting. The cat and mouse game being played between Pell and Dance is intense. To his favour Deaver has kept the interest intact but as expected in his genre, he has sprung many surprises. Dance keeps going back to her basics which is kinesics to break down the real story. Even after the plot ostensibly ended, Deaver has kept going on for a couple of chapters more, thereby intensifying the suspense. For one twists to many, I give Goodreads 4/5 

Children of the Thunder

Just got around to finish this book "Children of the Thunder" by John Brunner. It is a science fiction book and John Brunner takes a long time to get around to the story. It is about some kids who commit juvenile crime but of such proportions as to shock even the adult mind, crimes, such as running a prostitution racket, protection racket, murder etc. All these kids are ostensibly born out of surrogacy and there are doubts that all these kids might probably be from one donor. First there is an assumption of mind control in the sense that these kids have some kind of psychic power where they can read people's minds and they are brilliant but in a devious way. In between there are newspaper reports of some kind of catastrophe after another taking place somewhere in the world and there is also mention of a General Thrower who is a probably a menace to the society. Peter Levin is a science fiction writer who makes a living by digging up stories on calamities and Dr. Claudia is a science researcher from US who has developed the instinct that there is something violently wrong with these kids and could there be a connection between. Brunner has attempted to carve out a plausible story but it all ends up in one big disappointment, hence the 1 star.

Ultramarathon Man - Confessions of an All-Night Runner

Ultramarathon Man - Confessions of an All-Night Runner by Dean Karnazes is an absorbing and overwhelming story of his early athletic prowess in schools, loss of his sister to an accident, his subsequent forays away from running for 15 years, his rediscovery of running to running marathons, ultra marathons, crazy distances, unheard of before and impossible feats like running the South Pole marathon, running 199 miles non stop, etc. His heroic attempt at running the Western States 100 miler and Badwater Ultramarathon and failing the first time has been poignantly told. A nice inspirational story with dollops of quotable quotes for keeping in one's mirror or desktop. The paperback edition has given details of his diet, training, nutrition, strategy etc. so that becomes useful for people running ultra marathons. Dean has that rare gene which allows him to run continuously non stop unlike us mortals. He has also discovered the art of sleeping while on the run, albeit for  a few seconds. Dean has also run the 50 marathons in 50 states of the United States in 50 consecutive days, finishing the 50th day by running the NYC marathon. Goodreads 5/5 

Going Crazy

"Going Crazy" by Otto Friedrich is a kind of biography or a history of insanity or madness through the ages. Otto does a good job in keeping the narrative flowing throughout the pages with first hand accounts by many patients. Apart from celebrated cases he has also dwelt on the ordinary people's lives disrupted by what he calls as "craziness" - by all accounts all of us are somewhat crazy at some times or other - it only varies by degrees, but while majority are able to keep their thoughts clear there are many who lose control of their minds. He has also written about the cures which in medieval times ranged from cruelty itself like chaining the patients to drugs, therapies etc. It was surprising to read that so many celebrated people had problems in their lives. I would highly recommend this book to those interested in different genres like non-fiction, biographies etc. Rating 5/5

The Blood-Dimmed Tide

John Madden has retired as a detective from Scotland Yard and settled in his rural home happy with his surroundings. One day he and his wife Dr. Helen Madden were returning back to his house, when he chanced upon the body of a little girl, hidden, with a badly mutilated face and apparently raped also. His detective instincts kick in, despite protests from his wife, he gets involved in the case. Then another body is discovered in similar fashion but that disappearance was reported almost three years back. And another body in similar fashion. Case goes out of local police hands into Scotland Yard and slowly bits by pieces they stitch together a series of crimes being committed by a psychopath, all of young girls and all in similar fashion - rape and then post mortem mutilation and sometimes even post mortem rape. The gap of three years in the murders forces them to surmise that it could have been somebody who has been out of the country during that period. The murders are set in 1926 to 1929 period when Europe was in turmoil due to rising Nazism of that era. The case develops international ramifications but thankfully Rennie has not diverted too much attention to that part of the case. Rennie Airth's narrative is quite good and keeps the suspense intact. Goodreads 4/5  

The Fate of a Man and Early Stories

The Fate of a Man by Mikhail Sholokov, the Nobel Prize winner for literature in 1965 and six other short stories. All the stories are gut wrenching heart rending tales of sorrow, grieving, loss of family, sufferings due to the turmoil in Soviet Russia in the early part of the last century primarily the fight of the Cossacks against the then newly emerging Red Army. At several times during reading the stories, I had to take a break because it became extremely difficult to continue reading. The love of a father towards the children is the same whether it is in communist society or capitalist society and these were also evident in "Fathers and Sons" by Ivan Turgenev. Sholokov wrote "And Quiet Flows the Don" for which he was given the Nobel Prize. "The Fate of a Man" is another masterpiece from Sholokov.

Dangerous Curves

Picked up a book called "Dangerous Curves" by Peter Cheyney on a seconds books sale somewhere in Bombay, either because it was way too cheap or the it looked sorta good to read. Got down to reading it last week and was pleasantly surprised to read it - a riveting fast moving fiction with mystery suspense thrown in galore. Then I researched Peter Cheyney on the internet because i have never heard of this guy, was surprised to learn that he belonged to another era altogether, having been born in 1896 and died in 1951, relatively young just like Raymond Chandler another of my favorite. In the first few pages itself I discovered another of my favorite author James Hadley Chase in his writing. Chase who wrote many potboilers and wrote about the underdogs of the society has beautiful flowing narrative to his writing. This book is a Slim Callaghan mystery - that is the name of the investigator who is given the job of investigating the wayward stepson of a vivacious Thorla Riverton who is 30 years younger to her husband and whose husband is dying of complications from old age. Slim Callaghan has obviously a very disruptive style of operating which is not appreciated by Thorla Riverton and sparks fly between the two, she being attractive. Slim Callaghan being the quintessential fictional detective is able to comprehend the hidden facts as well as portend the future shape of things to come. One thing i did not like about Slim Callaghan is his excessive smoking and drinking, but what the hell, this book was written in 1939 when there were more worldly matters to be concerned than the post modern James Bondish type of fit action heroes. From this Wikipeadia entry here it seems Peter Cheyney lived the life of his fictional protagonists and died young having penned 35 novels and 150 short stories. This book is "out of print" and therefore a rare copy. Books such as these are rare to come by. Highly recommended reading for fiction fans. Goodreads 5/5

Havana Bay

Martin Cruz Smith is a first timer for me and I did not realise that he had written Gorky Park which was made into a movie a few years ago. Arcady Renko is a humourless Russian investigator sent to Havana to investigate the death of another little known Russian spy in a water accident. The book begins very slowly and takes even more slowness to get into the characters of the plot. There are few police people and a Cuban female investigator Ofelia all of whom don't want to investigate the Russian's death. There is a liberal sprinkling of the mistrust between Cuba and Russia in the book a kind of Cuban hate of Russia for leaving them in a lurch and sort of leaving them as holding the last communist post in the world. The plot gets bogged down repeatedly in the Cuban Russian interplay of emotions which is not dispelled despite a few more murders taking place. Smith has done a good job in slowly unfolding the plot to its conclusion in the Havana Bay but I thought the ending was a bit too abrupt. He should have allowed the emotions between Arcady and Ofelia to be taken to a logical conclusion. This was supposedly Arcady's fourth book in the series, it would be interesting to read his earlier works on Arcady and also his later works. Goodreads 4/5

The Accidental Prime Minister

The Accidental Prime Minister is a kind of unofficial biography of the greatest Prime Minister that India could have had but for his inherent shyness and introvertedness and the machinations of the Congress party loyalists close to the Family to ensure that no credit goes to the man or to anybody who is not from the Family. It is a strong and damning indictment of the Family, the psychopancy  of the Congress party leaders, the egotism of some of its stalwarts who could not see eye to eye with the PM, the egotripism of some senior bureacrats.  This man with impeccable credentials, distinguished educational background and rich experience could have been the greatest Prime Minister that India ever had because he had the vision for India but he was deliberately downplayed and not allowed freedom to do things his way. The book is absolutely brutal in its treatment of the political establishment especially that of the Ruling party and the Left leaders during the India US nuclear deal. Sanjaya Baru has spoken his heart of the person with whom he was closely associated during his tenure. After reading this book, one get's pure admiration for the man who has led India for the last 10 years. Highly recommended reading. Rating 5/5

Journey Down Melody Lane

"Down Melody Lane" written by Raju Bharatan a music writer is a kind of autobiography of Indian Hindi playback film music from mid 50s to mid 80s. Raju is a lucky chap who has had a ringside view of all the music directors, composers &singers from the late 40s onwards and on intimate terms with most of them. He has sat with, talked to, listened to compositions, the recordings, the practice sessions and in turn the music idols have disclosed much details to Raju in the process. This book looks at the music rivalries, jealousies, camps, but also gives an insight into the most happening events surrounding the hindi film music during this era which was undoubtedly the golden era of music. The narrative is quite horrible, but in the end it is a most satisfying book because then you are reading about your idols like Naushad, C. Ramachandra, S.D. Burman, R.D. Burman,  Mohd Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Hemant Kumar, Talat Mahmood, Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Mahendra Kapoor, Mukesh etc. etc.

Unscathed

True story of a UN peacekeeping gone horribly wrong in Sierra Leone in 2000. The inability of the UN unarmed peace keeping missions to return fire from rebel soldiers as young as 12 and 14 years comes out as horrifying especially when these child soldiers have no compunction in shooting down people. Quite a gripping fast moving book. Goodreads 5/5 

Live by Night

Live by Night is a 2016 drama film starring Ben Affleck, Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana among others. It is a prohibition era movie when gangsters ruled the roost in American cities. Ben (Joseph) is a small time gangster just back from world war I duties but he runs into Robert White who is owning the Irish gang in Boston. Joseph falls into love with his daughter Sienna (Emma) but they fall out with each other and Joseph is in jail for a bank heist and murder of three policemen. Joseph comes out and straight way goes to the Italian boss Maso Pescotore out in Florida, where he establishes their side of operations with his friend Dion. Out there Joseph falls in love with the sister of the Cuban mafia, Joe Saldana and there are some steaming scenes between them. In the meantime, he is supported by the local sheriff but his daughter Loretta (Elle Fanning) who wants to become an actress in Hollywood, instead becomes a prostitute. The sheriff's brother in law meanwhile is a member of the KKK and he starts bombing various premises of Joseph. To extract revenge against the brother in law, Joseph produces some incriminating photographs of Loretta and asks for the head of the brother in law in return for giving details of the address of Loretta. Loretta comes out and promptly becomes a nun declaiming all the gambling activities in the Miami area including a gambling house which Joseph was planning on setting up. As expected things reach a head between the Irish gangs and the Italian gangs in the end. Of the acting only Sienna Miller is praiseworthy, Ben Affleck is wooden throughout the movie. Too much of sub plots in the movie. Overall rating 2/5 

Cruel Intentions

Cruel Intentions is a 1999 movie starring Reese Witherspoon, Ryan Phillippe, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Blair among others. Its an absolutely horrible movie made with bad script, horrible acting and rotten story line. Ryan and Sarah are rich step siblings, but all they think of is to seduce others. Sarah has a drug problem also. Ostensibly their parents are not shown, but like super ultra rich they have their own obsessions. Sarah is all the time plotting others' downfall, while Ryan is equally the same but he writes a journal. His newest exploit is Reese who is the school principal's daughter but he falls in love with her instead. Lots of things happens in between, but in the end I am happy that it got finished. Rating 0.00001/5 

61 Hours

61 Hours is a Jack Reacher story by Lee Child. A few of these Jack Reacher stories have been converted into movies starring Tom Cruise. Jack Reacher is a kind of ex-military but now wandering aimlessly with minimal possession, and wherever he lands he finds some trouble in which his expertise is required. This time he lands in a town called Bolton in South Dakota in a bus of elderly tourists. It has been snowing, the roads are skidding and the bus falls into a gorge, luckily no major injuries, but Jack is stranded in the town for a couple of days, enough for him to find out something amiss there. There is a gang of bikers and some unused depot where strange things are going on. One old lady who has witnessed some horrific crime and is under threat by a gang operating out of Mexico. All that happens fast paced in a reverse countdown basis, so that keeps the reader engaged. It is no doubt a fast paced thriller. Jack talks to his ex-boss in Washington to get a lot of info on the Mexican gang. Goodreads 5/5

Relaxation of last date for filing AOC-4 xbrl

MCA has vide its circular dated 26th October, 2017 extended the last date for filing of AOC-4 XBRL for financial year 2016-17 in accordance with IndAS accounting standards upto 31st March, 2018. The draft taxonomy has been uploaded on the site in order for the stake holders to familiarise themselves with the new requirement. The development tools necessary for deployment of taxonomy for XBRL filing is expected to be completed only by 28th February, 2018. Therefore the last date has been extended upto 31st March, 2018.

MCA circular can be found here

DoT further simplifies the process for linking of Aadhaar with mobile number

PIB press release dated 25th October, 2017

In a bid to expedite compliance of telecom service providers with the Hon. Supreme Court's order dated 6^th February regarding linking of Aadhaar card with mobile number and reverification process of mobile users, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) issued a comprehensive instruction on Wednesday.

As per the new rules, the DoT has introduced three new methods to link the registered mobile number with Aadhaar i.e. OTP (One Time Password) based, App based and the IVRS facility. These new methods will help subscribers to get their mobile number linked to Aadhaar without visiting the stores of the telcos. For the ease of senior citizens and the people with disability and chronic illness, DoT has also recommended for the re-verification at subscribers’ doorstep. According to the new guidelines, the telecom operators should provide an online mechanism for people to request such service and based on availability schedule the visit and complete the process.

Speaking on the development, Shri Manoj Sinha, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Communications, said “The Aadhaar number system was designed to allow all residents of the country access to critical government services and important information that they may need from time to time. Mobile penetration is increasing rapidly in the country and the subscribers need to be provided with the ease of linking of the Aadhaar number with the mobile number. It is the government’s endeavour to improve convenience and reduce time and energy spent by consumers to accessing government information and services that is their right to access.”

Representative of COAI stated, “The latest clarifications from the DoT are aligned with what the industry, and the subscribers need at this time. While, it will take a little time to implement the directions, we are working closely with the government to improve and enhance the convenience of our consumers for undertaking Aadhaar based e-KYC linking of their mobile number. We are implementing all the necessary processes so as to be able to use the additional methods prescribed including OTP, App based and the IVRS facility. We expect it to get much faster and easier for individual mobile subscribers to comply with the e-KYC norms using their Aadhaar Registered Mobile Number (ARMN).” 

In a circular in August, DoT had given instructions to the telecom service providers to provide iris or fingerprint based authentication of Aadhaar. The new regulations have specified that the telecom service providers must deploy iris readers for this purpose within a reasonable geographical area.  

Further, in keeping with privacy rules, the DoT has mandated that telecom service providers’ agent should not have access to the subscribers’ e-KYC data and only the name and address of the subscribers should be visible. Subscribers can verify or re-verify their mobile numbers from anywhere in the country irrespective of which service area their mobile connection belongs to.

The Wish List

The Wish List by Martina Reilly is a nice heart warming, uplifting book about family relationships, grief, love, redemption etc. The book especially dwells nicely on the havoc wrought upon a young family when the man is into drugs. That is the central theme of the book, plus other redemption stories as well. Tony has a drug problem because of which he is in high debt and is forced to sell his house and settle elsewhere. He has a wife and two young kids. Next door to his new house is a grumpy old man who has his own problems in life following the death of his wife, which he has not been able to forget, thereby neglecting his own two sons, who are now grown-up. The elder son of Tony and Ally, looks upon Jeremy the old man as a Santa who will magically solve all his problems. Initially Jeremy looks upon that as a nuisance to keep away the kid, but increasingly becomes aware of his limitations. There is a coming of age with his own sons as well. Rehab of Tony and his relationship with his own young brother also comes up and also Ally's relationship with her father. So there is grief, mis-understanding all around, redemption, love, courage in plenty. Goodreads 3/5 

The Lock Artist

The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton, is an incredibly beautiful story of a vocally challenged lock artist and his unusual dilemma. The writing by Steve Hamilton is very touching. 18 year old Mike is a mute due to a terrible tragedy that happened 10 years ago. But he is also an expert safe cracker. And that is a talent that many people want, you know, especially of the wrong kind. So he has no choice but to lend his services to the wrong people, he falls in love at one such house. The story is narrated by him so that makes it very surreal, a not speaking person narrating his story. He is also a good at drawing so he sort of explains himself through his drawings. Goodreads 5/5 

The Winter Ghosts

The Winter Ghosts is a novel written by English writer Kate Mosse. Its not a creepy ghost story but more like a historically leaking ghost, I guess all ghosts are leaking in some way or other but this book is interesting. Freddie Watson who is very attached to his brother George and who has not been very well treated by his parents is distraught at the death of his brother. There are constant references to what would George think about, in the book. Freddie is institutionalised also for a few years. The book is set in post World War I scenario. In order to recover from his illness he sets off on a road trip to France, drives through in snow and low visibility and crashes his car into the rocks. When he recovers he stumbles into a village which is seen as celebrating its annual village festival. There he meets Fabrissa and they talk and talk and there is some fighting taking place from where they escape. The next morning he gets up, Fabrissa is gone. Freddie learns of her story of persecution of the Cathers community by the Catholic church. But that happened 700 years ago. Goodreads review 3/5 

Indecent Proposal

Indecent Proposal is a 1993 movie featuring Demi Moore, Robert Redford and Woody Harrelson.  Before writing this blog I checked online, as that feature is easily available these days and found out that Woody Harrelson had been given the Worst Actor Award in the Razzies and the movie itself was nominated for Worst Movie Award. Well, it is not such a bad movie at all. Demi Moore especially sizzles in the movie. She looks beautiful those youthful days. Woody Harrelson in fact has done a fine role. I am sure those who gave him the Razzies would like to change their opinion. Its an uncomplicated story of a millionaire wanting to sleep with a woman for 1 million dollars, which those guys need desperately to fund their dream housing project. He has got money to spare and she has got the assets but what is not reckoned with is the emotional content. I am sure there must have been a shameless copy in Bollywood by somebody with all the songs and dance in it and too much of emotional drama baazi with moms and in laws and bua's and what ever fucking not characters. 

The Exorcist - cult classic

Revisited the 1973 cult classic "The Exorcist" yesterday. It was and still is the greatest horror movie ever made. Don't remember what were my emotions when I saw it first time in 1979 or around but this movie still gives the creeps. Those days Hollywood movies were released in India 5 to 6 years after their first release abroad so that is why we got to see the movie in 1979 or thereabouts, when I was in college. Linda Blair as Regan MacNeil is simply the most powerful devil incarnate ever. None of the latter horror movies ever comes close to this ultimate cult classic. The devil penetration into Regan happens ever so slowly and that is most beautifully done. The first instance we see is when she undergoes a medical examination with Dr.Klein. Then when she suddenly blows out it is most terrifying. She is all raw power when she says "stick your cock up her ass, you motherfucking worthless cocksucker" 

This piece of dialogue when Father Lancester Merrin tries to drive the evil away is epic. 

Father Merrin: I cast you out! Unclean spirit!

Demon: Shove it up your ass, you faggot!

Father Merrin: In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! It is he who commands you! It is he who flung you from the gates of Heaven to the depths of Hell!

Demon: Fuck him!

Father Merrin: Be gone...

Demon: Fuck him, Karras! Fuck him!

Father Merrin: ...from this creature of God! Be gone! In the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Of the cast, Jason Miller as Father Damien Karras is outstanding. When he enters her room and finds his mother sitting there and then he realises what is to be done, he comes down and sits on the bench. That is the most poignant scene ever in the movie.

These were great cult movies, The Exorcist, The Omen, Jaws, Alien - all absolutely great movies. 

The Freebooters

The Freebooters written by Elleston Trevor is an unlikely story of a British army unit embattled in an imaginary country in a violent zone inside Africa with orders not to fight but only to retaliate. The force gets impatient, with one soldier letting loose his machine gun killing 15 of the locals. The locals meanwhile continue to harass the soldiers and in fact they get annoyed when the force constructs a barbed wire outside their perimeter in order to keep the locals away. The locals do manage to kill a few British soldiers and that too in a most brutal way. A few of them mutiny, walk across 250 miles of enemy territory with a truck and machine guns and all, but the truck breaks down and, so they are forced to leg it out to the missionary. Along the route they encounter the tribes and kill many of them. Once they arrive at the missionary it is still not over, and they have to fight hard to stave off the locals. Again when they arrive at the missionary, its head, a lady says, she does not approve of any killings, its bad. So they have a predicament, but they are lives to be saved as well. Its a brave story with varied characters and the writer has kept the interest intact. Goodreads review 5/5 

Black Wind

Black Wind is a thriller from Clive Cussler alongwith his son Dirk Cussler. During the world war II, a Japanese submarine carrying some deadly biological warfare was sunk by US boats. 40 years later, a North Korean businessman masquerading as a South Korean tries to get hold of those biological canisters in order to wreak havoc on the US. His logic - US forces are occupying the DMZ between North and South Korea and therefore preventing a re-unification between the two Koreas on North Korean terms. Enter Dirk Pitt Jr. and his sister Summer, both agents with NUMA, (National Underwater & Marine Agency), they stumble upon this rapacious plot of the North Korean to let loose biological warfare over the American air and soil during the G-20 summit. One thing leads to another, there is a lot of chase all over the place from Phillipines to Japan to South Korea and back to San Deigo. Dirk and Summer's father Dirk Pitt Sr. is also involved in the plot. Nice racy thriller a bit technical with all the nautical adventures but Clive Cussler has managed to keep the narrative flowing smoothly. Rating 4/5 

11.24 kms Aarey

11.24 kms in Aarey Forest, Mumbai. Took the regular unit no. 16 and the Aarey Guest House and also added the Diary road today. Weather in Aarey was absolutely humid with not a hint of breeze whatsoever. Aarey Forest is such a beautiful place, an oasis in the bustling city of Mumbai, a paradise of sorts. Don't understand government apathy in destroying such a beautiful natural eco system which is virtually the lungs of Mumbai. Especially when there are alternative sites for construction of the metro car shed government insistence on destroying aarey forest is nothing short of arrogance and cruelty. Cruelty it is to the thousands of birds, insects etc. residing in this beautiful forest. Every time you go to Aarey Forest you feel so refreshed, it is the pure oxygen which is the hallmark of this place. I suspect there is corruption and greed in commercially exploiting this pristine piece of nature.  

Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club is a 2013 American movie based on a real life story of Ron Woodruff who is diagnosed with AIDS but does not get the medicines because FDA has not approved of them. These are early days of the AIDS treatment and the research is still picking up on what is the best medicine for AIDS. Mathew McConaughey has brilliantly played the lead role of Ron, for which he won the Best Acting Oscar. Jennifer Garner as the supportive doctor has also played a superb role. The more I see of Jennifer Garner acting, the more I feel that she is developing in a fine actor in the mould of Meryl Streep. So Ron does not get the AZT because they are still on trial, but he goes to Mexico and gets dDc and peptide T, which is a protein from a local doctor there whose licence has been squashed. He brings a bootful load of medicines masquerading as a padre who requires them for his cancer treatment. Meanwhile he starts selling the medicines to fellow AIDS patients who are similarly denied the AZT treatment and forms the Dallas Buyers Club. His activity prompts other cities to form similar clubs like Florida Buyers Club which is mentioned in the movie. Ron gets into business with a transgender and sets about charging $400 as membership fee for the Dallas Buyers Club. But FDA confiscates his supplies and then IRS sets about investigating his activities. Meanwhile Jenifer is forced to resign from her post because she is seen as supporting the Club activities.

I liked the way this difficult subject was treated in the film. In India we don't see these kind of autobiographical movies which are even slightly controversial. We have sports and politics bio pics which are far away from truth and which are more like goody goody movies with a lot of song and dance. 

Babel

Babel is  a 2006 film starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett among others. It is set in four different countries Morocco Mexico, United States and Japan and the movie moves from one setting to another. Brad Pitt and his wife Cate are on a holiday to Morocco, leaving their two kids behind with their Mexican nanny in the US. They are emotionally distraught from having lost their third kid and so their marriage is on a strain. While in the bus, Cate is accidentally shot by a stray shot from one goatherd up in the mountains. The goatherd and his brother were given the gun by their uncle who gave it to them for protecting the herd from wolves. So Brad struggles with his bleeding wife and some emotionally disturbed co-passengers who think it is a terrorist attack and want to leave as soon as possible. Cate is taken to the village of the bus tour guide where there is no hospital but a local veterinary doctor sews up her wound. Meanwhile the nanny in the US has to go to Mexico for her son's wedding but the parents are not back, so she decides to take the kids with her to Mexico, a risky job but they manage to cross the border safely. Out in Japan, a deaf girl Rinko Kakuchi is shown as a rebellious kid and has unnatural sexual drive. She is recovering from the suicide of her mother so uses sexuality as a balm to calm her. She does not succeed any time. Her father Koji Yakusho is equally emotional disturbed and he has given away the gun as a memento to the goatherd's uncle. When the Japanese detective asks him about his wife's death, he says that he shot herself with a rifle, not jumping from the balcony. The connection between these stories slowly comes to the fore. There is one strand which connects all these stories. Absolutely powerful movie directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. The music by Gustavo Santaolalla is simply breath taking. I watched this movie on Amazon Prime Video, unfortunately the movie did not have any sub-titles, which is a major drawback. The acting by the cast is absolutely good. There are so many languages used in the movie - Moroccan, Spanish, English, Japanese, Sign language but there were no sub-titles. The movie is mostly shot on actual locations which is breath taking. Adriana Barazza as the nanny has done a superb role. The Moroccan part of the actors were also extremely good and lifelike. 

City of Ghosts

City of Ghosts is a 2017 documentary about a group of underground citizen journalists "Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently" (RBSS). RBSS came into being after ISIS took control of Raqqa a town in Syria. Most of the footages are the actual real footages of the crimes being committed in that place. The actors are also the real ones who are behind the RBSS. It is a moving account of the atrocities being committed by the extremist group in that town. Many of the RBSS members' own family members were shot dead by militants in Raqqa. RBSS members in Raqqa used to send footages to their friends in other countries who then used to post it on social media. The ISIS had completely cut off all contact for Raqqa with the outside world including destroying roof top satellites.

Raqqa is a beautiful town and people were leading normal lives but the arrival of ISIS in 2014 changed all that. This is a beautiful documentary and the RBSS were also awarded the International Press Freedom Award in 2015 for their brave efforts.

And the latest news is that Raqqa has been freed from the hands of the militants as per this news report

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-ignominious-end-of-the-isis-caliphate

Dark Fire

Dark Fire is a historical fiction novel written by C.J. Sansom. The mystery story is set during the reign of King Henry VIII in the 16th century. Brother Mathew Shardlake is a hunchbacked lawyer and he has been called upon to rescue a friend's young niece who is wrongly accused of murder of her cousin. The girl gets an unexpected reprieve assisted through the offices of Duke Thomas Cromwell who wants a favour from Shardlake in return for granting a two week reprieve for the girl. The Duke wants him to investigate something called Greek Fire which is some kind of chemical to be used for creating havoc and destruction amongst people. Cromwell wants it desperately in order to resuscitate his own position with the King. One after another people who have worked on the Greek Fire start getting killed mysteriously. Shardlake has to follow that lead and also keep working on the investigation into Elizabeth's case. Luck falls his way on the girl's case, when he espies a locked out well in the household of Elizabeth's family. She is an orphan staying with her uncle, grandmother and cousins. Meanwhile he gets track of the diabolical plot surrounding the Greek Fire or the Dark Fire as it is commonly known. Sansom uses language that is known to have been used in those times. He keeps the suspense alive through an engaging and fast developing plot. This is my second book of C.J. Sansom, first one being Revelation. Rating 4/5 

CIPAM-DIPP Launches Logo and Tagline Contest for Geographical Indications of India

PIB Press Release dated 18th October, 2017

The Cell for IPR Promotions & Management (CIPAM) under the aegis of the Department of Industrial Policy Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has launched a logo and tagline/slogan contest for Geographical Indications (GIs) of India on MyGov.in website.

            A Geographical Indication (GI) is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicrafts and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory. Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin. Some of the examples of registered Indian GIs are Darjeeling Tea, Tirupathi Laddu, Kangra Paintings, Nagpur Orange, Kashmir Pashmina etc.

            GIs are not only part of our rich culture and collective intellectual heritage, but they also supplement the incomes of our rural farmers, weavers, artisans and craftsmen across the country. The promotion of GIs is in line with the Government of India’s ‘Make in India’ campaign and therefore, it is our responsibility to preserve and protect them.

            Taking forward its ongoing social media campaign #LetsTalkIP to promote Indian GIs, DIPP aims to launch a certifying GI mark/logo that can be used to identify all registered GIs irrespective of the categories, and a suitable tagline/slogan for promotion of GIs. This will also help in engaging more people on the subject of GIs and making them aware about the benefits of a GI tag.

            DIPP has taken several initiatives for promoting awareness and outreach on GIs. One of the ways to promote GIs could be to present them as gifts. In this context, CIPAM has also launched “Gift a GI” campaign to enhance the visibility and thus help in branding and promotion of registered GI products. DIPP is also working with State governments to spread awareness on GIs.

            This contest is an opportunity for creators who aspire to see their creation recognized on a national platform. The last date for receiving entries is 17th November, 2017. The winning entry will receive a cash award of Rs. 50,000/- each, for logo design and slogan for GIs of India.

            The details of the logo competition for ‘Design a Logo and Suggest a Tagline Competition’ can be obtained from MyGov.in online platform.

            The complete list of all registered GIs in India can be viewed here. http://www.ipindia.nic.in/registered-gls.htm