[Book Review] Murder on The Orient Express - Agatha Christie

This is going to be one of my greatest regrets – why the hell haven’t I ever read an Agatha Christie’s before! For all the expectations I had about this book – it exceeded all and then some! Plain old murder mystery and some bloody brilliant story telling!

Goodreads Blurbs: Travelling on the Orient Express, Poirot is approached by a desperate American named Ratchett. Afraid that someone plans to kill him, Ratchett asks Poirot for help. Sadly the very next day Ratchett’s worst fears become reality, when he is found dead in his cabin, a victim of multiple stab wounds. With nothing but a scrap of paper to go on, Poirot must piece together Ratchett’s identity before he can establish which of his fellow passengers murdered him.

I picked this book after much debating with myself over her other book – And Then There Were None. I heard it’s equally as good as this one. I will find that out very soon.

I am sure, many of us who read thriller books – always try and guess the ending, or if it’s a murder mystery – the identity of the killer. This book, though – outwits you! With every twist and turn and every new evidence that surface, you would keep changing the killer’s identity or identities as you may assume. I don’t know about others, but I definitely did not guess the ending at all. In fact, my guess was utterly, utterly wrong!

The pace of the book is just too good. Too good, that I actually heaved a sigh of relief when a “Dinner Break” was announced in the novel towards the end. I had to compose myself, breathe regularly, drink some water and then start reading again. Once you enter Part III of this novel, there is no putting down.

Towards the end of the novel, despite the pace, one can actually laugh out loud when during the course of the investigation, the good doctor saying:

“This,” said Dr. Constantine, “is more wildly improbably than any roman policier [a police novel, portraying crime and its detection by police] I have ever read.”

Or, the train company owner – M. Bouc expresses his frustration:

“Nothing would surprise me now,” said M. Bouc. “Nothing!”

When you read it here, it might seem as a simple dialogue, but when you are really into the book, progressing the case along with H. Poirot, these two statements will surely kick your funny bones!

The book keeps us engaged with the facts, testimonials, and evidences. Although I did observe a couple of things that had a big revelation at the end, it was quite an impressive way to build the story. Of course, no one could observe as much as H. Poirot. Immediate fan sir, wherever you are in the fictitious world!

The only thing I found annoying was the intermittent French dialogues. Thankfully, I was able to translate them quickly. Other than that, this is a Must Read – for all the Murder, Mystery, Thriller and Detective Genre fans! :)

Image Courtesy: Google

[Book Review] The Devotion of Suspect X

It took me eight days to complete the book, I’d have done so much sooner had there been enough time for me. Some of them were asking me how I’m finding so much time to read so many books – I am just following the advice of one Mr. Jairam Mohan a senior blogger/reader at my organization. He had said to me one time that “Read whenever you get a chance”. I took that advice literally that I was reading in-between the water breaks and lunch breaks too! So, my success for completing the Goodreads reading challenge this year is only because of his advice. Thank you Jairam ji! :)

~~~

Very few authors have this ability to leave you spellbound. Keigo Higashino is certainly one of those authors. The Devotion of Suspect X is a thriller novel written by him and has already been praised as one of the best thrillers written.

This is the first time I’m reading a translated novel (This is a Japanese novel translated to English). I had hard time placing the names with the correct sex! A couple of names were too similar that I almost mistook one for the other. I’m talking about Yukawa and Yasuko here. But as I progressed with the book it became easy to place the names.

Murder mystery thrillers are good because usually we were never told who the killer is, until the last page of that book. But, revealing who the killer is in the first few chapters of the book and still go on to make it interesting to read is definitely a challenging task. This book has exceeded my expectations – what I had formed after reading a blogger's review.

I’m a mathematics student so I naturally loved all the references and the mathematician Ishigami himself. What a character he is! Author had managed to show him the brilliant he is right from the beginning, slowed (hided) his progress in-between and then the big reveal! Surely no one could hate this Ishigami. Talk about a character development and you could practically refer Ishigami! What a transformation he goes through! I especially liked this conversation during a mathematics class (sorry, it’s a bit long):

“Hey, Teach, aren’t there universities that don’t require a math test to get in?” one of the students was saying. “Why should us guys who are going to those schools have to pass math?”

Ishigami looked in the direction of the student, a boy named Morioka. He was leaning back in his chair, scratching his head and looking around at the other students for support. He was a short kid, but he filled the role of class crime boss—even Ishigami, who didn’t have this bunch for homeroom, knew his reputation. The boy already had a long history of warnings for riding to school on a motorbike, which was strictly forbidden.

“Are you going to art school, Morioka?” Ishigami asked.

“Well, I mean … if I do go to university, it’ll be one without a math exam for sure. Not that I plan on going. Besides, I’m not taking the optional math class next year, so what’s my grade this year matter? Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m thinking about you, too, Teach. Can’t be much fun teaching with idiots like me in the class. So, I was thinking, maybe we could kind of come to an understanding about this. An agreement between adults, like.”

That last line got a laugh from the class. Ishigami chuckled wryly. “If you’re so worried on my account, then pass your make-up exam. It’s only differential and integral calculus. That can’t be too hard.”

Morioka scoffed loudly. He crossed his legs off to the side of his chair. “What good’s differential and integral calculus gonna do me? It’s a waste of time.”

Ishigami had turned to the blackboard to begin an explanation of some of the trickier problems on the year-end exam, but Morioka’s comment made him stop and turn around. This wasn’t the kind of thing he could let slide. “I hear you like motorbikes, Morioka. Ever watched a race?”

Morioka nodded, clearly taken aback by the sudden question.

“Well, do racers drive their bikes at a set speed? No, they’re constantly adjusting their speed based on the terrain, the way the wind’s blowing, their race strategy, and so on. They need to know in an instant where to hold back and where to accelerate in order to win. Do you follow?”

“Yeah, sure, I follow. But what’s that got to do with math?”

“Well, exactly how much they accelerate at a given time is the derivative of their speed at that exact moment. Furthermore, the distance they travel is the integral of their changing speed. In a race, the bikes all have to run roughly the same distance, so in determining who wins and who loses, the speed differential becomes very important. So you see, differential and integral calculus is very important.”

“Yeah,” Morioka said after a confused pause, “but a racer doesn’t have to think about all that. What do they care about differentials and integrals? They win by experience and instinct.”

“I’m sure they do. But that isn’t true for the support team for those racers. They run detailed simulations over and over to find the best places to accelerate—that’s how they work out a strategy. And in order to do that, they use differential and integral calculus. Even if they don’t know it, the computer software they’re using does.”

“So why not leave the mathematics to whoever’s making the software?”

“We could do that, but what if it was you who had to make the software, Morioka?”

Morioka leaned further back in his chair. “Me? Write software? I don’t think so.”

“Even if you don’t become a software engineer, someone else in this class might. That’s why we study mathematics. That’s why we have this class. You should know that what I’m teaching here is only the tip of the iceberg—a doorway into the world of mathematics. If you don’t even know where the door is, how can you ever expect to be able to walk through it? Of course, you don’t have to walk through it unless you want to. All I’m testing here is whether or not you know where the doorway is. I’m giving you choices.”

Yukawa is an equivalent partner in this book for Ishigami and his logical deductions are too good. Detective Kusanagi wasn’t foreshadowed as well – he has his moments. Only thing that wasn’t making much sense is the character Misato (teen age daughter of Yasuko). I felt like she could have given some more pages as to what she does in the end and why.

At the end of the novel you can’t help but feel sad for Ishigami – his cry is just too haunting. A must read for all the thriller lovers.

[Book Review] The Protocol

I was hunting for a good free eBook – my recent fascination with it. I came across the author J Robert Kennedy and his willingness to give away not one, not two, but five of his books. All you have to do is just subscribe to his page (and I think you can unsubscribe as soon as you’re done with the download)!

The Protocol is his first “James Acton” thriller – as said in Goodreads. Looks like he went ahead and wrote sixteen James Actor thrillers! Wow, that was quite an achievement in about six years! James Acton is an archelogical professor – you can very well compare him to the Robert Langdon. But, even when I was reading the book (and after completing it), I found the “role” of one Professor James Acton to be very less than the “Bravo” team who were ordered to take him out. Let’s first read what Goodreads has to say about this book:

For two thousand years the Triarii have protected us, influencing history from the crusades to the discovery of America. Descendent from the Roman Empire, they pervade every level of society, and are now in a race with our own government to retrieve an ancient artifact thought to have been lost forever.

Caught in the middle is archaeology professor James Acton, relentlessly hunted by the elite Delta Force, under orders to stop at nothing to possess what he has found, and the Triarii, equally determined to prevent the discovery from falling into the wrong hands.

With his students and friends dying around him, Acton flees to find the one person who might be able to help him, but little does he know he may actually be racing directly into the hands of an organization he knows nothing about…

First read of the blurb and I was hooked. I was assuming a ‘DaVinci Code’ kinda thriller, but absolutely disappointed with the book. The author had done little research about the Triarii and the Crystal Skull both seems to be the important things in this book. And as I said, for a “James Acton” thriller, he had very little ‘paper time’ (well I don’t know how to say that for books, for movies they say screen time). The Delta Force and Triarii mentioned in the blurb took the cake in this book rather than James Acton.

The book starts slow, almost having no connectivity between the first eight or so chapters (all starts from a different place/situation) and it take sometime to get a clear picture of the story. Sometimes a character, last read in say 30th chapter, comes suddenly in 80th chapter, leaving you asking yourself “Who the hell is this guy?” There were a few loose ends that were not tied, probably left open for his future books.

The only upside of this book is the Delta Force. Scenes involving them were fascinating. The high end chases and bullet sounds keeps us hooked to the book. A lot of things could have been done differently and the backstory to 1212 were just for the sake of it. Nothing useful came out from those chapters other than a mere mention in the future dialogues. I rated this book 3 stars only because of the action scenes and the justification of the villain.

Image Courtesy: Goodreads

[Book Review] The Old Man and the Sea

It took me ten days to complete this book although it's a short novel of about less than 100 pages only. To let you know that I read the last 40 ish pages on a single day (I read the book everyday) sums up the pace of the book :D For some of you who are unaware of the reason for me to pick this book - this book has won the Nobel Prize in the Literature work category. I must tell you I was really scared when I picked this book from my friend who borrowed it at the Cognizant Siruseri SEZ library!

Before you read the review, I'd like to confirm that I did enjoy reading this novel. But, I missed a lot because a lot of terms were unfamiliar to me - that is related to the fishing. If someone told me that I should have taken a Fishing 101 before reading this novel, I sure would have loved this! But, I just can't keep on googling for a lot of fishing terms were used in this novel. At one point, I stopped looking and with the flow, I could still enjoy the novel. So, if you'd like to really enjoy this, please lookup for the fishing terms like:

Harpoons
Skiff
Mast
Sardines etc. I don't remember most of the other technical terms.

As you have guess it correctly this book is about an old man and the sea. Protagonist is an old and experienced fisherman, Santiago his name. With age, his luck has also ran out as from the beginning of the novel, he'd been to the sea for 84 days and hadn't caught a single fish. Manolin, "the boy" is a good friend of him and used to go with the old man a few times for fishing until his parents decided to send him with different people considering the luck of Santiago. The novel takes us with him to his 85th day into the sea, alone, with him feeling luck on his side.

When my friend and I went to the Siruseri SEZ library, I picked "Carry on, Jeeves" and he "The Old man and the Sea" (He later told me that the reason from him to chose this was because the book was small and had less pages). He couldn't even read more than ten pages in the book as he felt unbelievably sleepy and was ready to return it then and there. I told him to give the book to me so that I could give it a try. I'm telling this to you because, this book is not for everyone. This is for those who have that patience.

Sure, I felt sleepy too on the first few pages, but once Santiago leaves for fishing on the 85th day, I felt as if I was travelling along with that old man. Before this "literature" book, the one other book that I read that fall under the same category is a Tamil book named "Thanneer". Now, I don't know the genre "Literature" nor I was interested in one before "Thanneer". I liked that book very much because, it was, as if, happening somewhere in Tamil Nadu for sure. I still haven't looked up at the Literature genre in google as to what it is, but from my understanding after reading these two books - to write something to be as classified as a literature, one should have a deep, deep knowledge of it. In the case of this book, it's the old man Santiago and the sea itself whereas in that Tamil book it's the water and humanity.

I'd like to think that the same thing that happens to this old man in this novel should be a thing with the fishermen. Because, when I read "Thanneer" (translates to "Water") I know the background - the scarcity of water in Chennai during the time of the novel. Just how I felt the "Water", and characters "Jamuna and Chaya" in the "Thanner" novel, I feel the "Sea", and characters "Santiago and Manolin" in this novel. The novel's ending left a definite impact on me and I sure hope it'll leave the same to you too. Highly recommended, if you are ofcourse, a patient reader :)

PS: There's even a movie with the same name released on 1958. I'm gonna watch it soon :)

[Book Review] The Invisible Man

Thanks to Amazon for giving this book for free – that’s the main reason for me to pick this book up :D Second reason is the author – H. G. Wells. I was told that he’s the father of the Sci-Fi genre, and for me to read the likes of “Contact” in the future, I definitely needed a start. GBK, a friend of mine, said that this book would be childish since it was written in 1897 – that’s exactly what I wanted since I’m zero in Science and would love to read a fiction.

The books that I’m reading from Kindle almost always have a little over 100 pages only, the reason I can wrap ‘em up quickly :D The Invisible Man from H. G. Wells is also just a little over 100 pages only and doesn’t deal mostly with the “Science” stuff of the invisible-ness. Probably one of the reason why I like this book very much. To summarize this book, it’s the life of an Invisible man. You might think that it’ll be very cool and you may kinda think of all the naughtiness that you can expect, courtesy of that “Hollow Man” movie, but you’re in for a big surprise here!

The first question I asked when I was about to pick this book was “Is this the book that inspired Hollow Man movie?” as most of H. G. Wells’ books have been made into a movie. Thankfully, people said no. So if you are also the hater of Hollow Man, please go ahead and order this copy in Amazon for free. What made me like this book is the fact that, there are a lot of downsides to the invisibility. And, this book captures everyone of them.

The book starts with a “stranger” who’s actually invisible, but disguises himself so that he can blend with people, arrives into a town. Since this was written way before our time, I guess the author might have wanted the readers to give a proper “visual” so-to-speak, before we confirm our suspicion – so the initial chapters were a little drag. But once the Invisible Man and Dr. Kemp meet, it shifts into a higher gear!

The book captures the mindset of a normal man when he becomes invisible. How the invisibility changes his character, attitude, even his temper is very well portrayed. More importantly, what I learnt from this book is that when you tamper with what the nature has given you, you always tend to go in the destructive path. I guess the ending of such stories are always predictable, so I wasn’t disappointed to have expected it.

I would recommend this book to any Sci-Fi lovers who won’t expect too much of technicality. Also, for any Sci-Fi beginners like me :)  :D

Image Courtesy: Wiki

[55F] Why Sangre?

Blood was dripping from his fists. He knew it wasn’t his own. The sound proof room made his task easier. “RANGANATHAN” the shout of his name brought him back to reality.

“You’re up next man” said Rajesh, all smiles. He let out a sigh, got up from the chair and headed for the appraisal discussion.

PS: As you have guessed it right, Sangre is blood in Spanish (DaVinci Code anyone? :P ) :D This is the season, you know :D

[55F] Just Missed it!

He saw that. His eyes widened as soon as he saw that. He immediately rushed towards it. Just when his hand was about to touch it, another hand came in and snatched it. With a defeated and disappointed look, he saw her walk with the last piece of “Kurkure Solid Masti” to the billing counter.

PS: Has anyone of you noticed that the “Solid Masti” flavor in Kurkure is hard to get (for a very long time)? It’s my favorite and it’s been evading me for a long time now!

[55F] RIPoste

She was tired after the funeral.

‘Ugh, it’s hard to act sad! But, I finally got rid of him’ she thought, ‘How am I going to explain this to my son?’

She entered home, saw her 5 year old son playing alone.

He shouted, “Come on Mom, Dad and I have been playing like crazy!”

[Movie Review] The Number 23

This is a spoiler free review of the movie "The Number 23" and I'm attempting to write this review a little different from my usual style, thanks to a friend of mine for that suggestion. Before you get fascinated about the movie (which this movie sure is), there's a strict warning - this movie is for Adults only. There are violence, nudity and psychological things in this movie which might not suit the light hearts. You may skip the movie, but please do read the review. ;)

How often do you obsess on a number? Never, right? Some people, who are interested in Mathematics, for instance, me, obsess a lot. This movie "The Number 23" had been on my watchlist for a very long time. I just didn't have the time. When I found it yesterday, I was in for a treat.

Growing up, I always had the fascination for numbers. The number 9 fascinated me a lot! There are a lot of No. 9 facts and funs in most of the mathematical websites. So, this fascination is OK, but what happens when an obsession starts? First of all, how do an obsession start?

The first time, it was a casual thing. Second time, you give a little attention. Third time you start to ignore it and chose it to be a coincidence. Enough time, you start to observe. You start to observe a lot. You search for it. Eventually as time goes on, you see 'that' in everything. That's an obsession. Similarly, what happens when a number that crosses your path for say, 10 times? If that brings good things, it becomes your lucky number. Otherwise, it's an unlucky number. Give it more time, you see that number in all the good/bad thing that happens around you. True, isn't it?

When my fascination for the number begun, I just didn't stop with the numbers. I converted the alphabets into numbers, like A as 1 and B as 2 etc and Z as 26.  You see a new world when you are in obsession. Some are pleasant while some becomes nightmares.

So this film "The Number 23" is something like that. A nightmare for a man who's obsessed with 23. Although I've watched the "The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" and saw a different Jim Carrey there, he tops with respect to performance in this movie. An absolute gem of a screenplay, leaves you clueless as to what happens next and how things fall in place. Following are the facts shown during the opening credits of the movie. Yes, I've had the patience to note it down.

There are 23 letters in the Latin Alphabet.

Hiroshima Tragedy, August 6, 1945. 08/06/1945. 8 + 6 + 1 + 9 + 4 - 5 = 23. They dropped the bomb at 8:15 AM, 8+15=23!

King Charles I was Beheaded on Jan 30, 1649. 01/30/1649. 1+3+1+6+4+9=24 - I (one) = 23.

The Knight Templars had 23 grand masters. (Something Dan Brown didn't tell us huh?)

The Witches Sabbath is June 23rd.

Shakespeare was born and died on April 23rd.

Shakespeare was also first published in 1623.

The Titanic sank the morning of April 15th, 1912. 04/15/1912. 4+1+5+1+9+1+2=23.

TWA Flight 800: 230 people dead. Explosion Occurred in Seats 23J and 23K.

George Herbert Walker Bush (George H.W. Bush) = 23 letters.

William Jefferson Clinton (Bill Clinton) = 23 letters.

Franklin Delano Rosevelt = 23 letters.

December 11, 1941 US declared war on Germany. 12+11 = 23.

Hitler killed himself April 1945. 4+1+9+4+5 = 23.

October 23 1983 - Marine Barracks bombing. 241 soldiers killed. 24-1 = 23.

Julius Ceaser was stabbed a total of 23 times.

The Mayans believed the world would end in December 23rd of the year 2012. 2012 = 20+1+2=23. (I remember it to be 21st and Wiki concurs)

Charles Manson was born on Nov 12. 11+12 = 23.

Illuminatti 1723 AD (Although Wiki says 1776).

Barbarians invaded Rome - Aug 23, 410 (Wiki says Aug 24)

There are more reported UFO sightings on July 23rd than any other day.

Pffffft! That's something, right? After watching the movie (even during the movie), my obsession for 23 also got started! The link part in the facts above were taken by me (hehehe). I couldn't find any links for the July 23 UFO sightings. Following are some of my own 23s:

23 is a prime number. Did you know it's the 9th prime number? Of all the numbers, 23 chose to be 9th prime number, when I have an obsession on number 9.

I joined my first project in CTS on 23rd October 2012. Again, 2012 = 20+1+2 =23.

My PAN Number has letter W in it, which is the 23rd letter.

My Voters ID Card number has 32 in it, which is the reverse of 23.

12/17/2015 the date in which I'm publishing this post = 12+1+7+2+1+5=28. 23 is 2+3=5, so, 28-5=23!

And these were just the observations I made in the last one hour after watching the movie!

[Short Story] In a galaxy far far away...

Ninety six years has passed by since he came here. The fact that he lived ninety six years would be considered a record, back home. Pandora is my home now, he said to himself. He let out a big sigh and walked towards the private garden of his. He then plucked the only flower that blooms here, a red rose, smiling while doing so. He wanted to surprise Raji, his best friend, ever since he came here. This is the day, he thought.

He had already made the two rings, with the only hard metal that you can find here –Adamantium. But, no one knew that he had brought a few grams of gold when he left home. The artisan, who made this ring, offered up to 2 billion credit for the 8 gram gold, but Ashok refused. He knew Raji had a special kind of likeness for that yellow color metal. It would look lovely – the gold plated Adamantium, on Raji’s little fingers!

The last one he wanted was her favorite book. He knows she likes a lot of books, he even thought of buying one of her favorite books “The Divine Comedy”. But, there is one other book that she likes the most. It was written by someone like Marquis err… or is it Marquez? Before he could ponder his head further, the alarm blared. The book has to wait, Ashok thought. It’s time to hunt more hammerhead Titanotheres.

One of the main problem with the Titanotheres is, they cannot be killed by the Rheinmetall RMK30, because their skull is just too thick. Rheinmetall RMK30, let’s just call it RRMK30, one of the best recoil-less rifle, is the highest form of weapon allowed here. That is lethal too. It is also present in almost all the home here. Reason – as you guessed, there are a lot of Titanotheres, Thanator and Viperwolves.

When these animals breach the border of river Stynx, an alarm is made to the prolific hunters. They would have one hour to assemble at the hunting point, which is the only way inside the city. Wasting no time, Ashok took the Tachi and RRMK30 and rushed towards his vehicle. Tachi, by the way is the only way to kill a Titanotheres.

The helium powered automatic Argo, was running at about eighty miles an hour. Ashok was addressing the passengers, “This is not a drill, gentlemen. This is what you’ve been trained for. Now, I know most of you guys are not used to hunt. Atleast, not a Titanotheres. Use the RRMK30 only on the legs of the Titanotheres. Yes, on all the four front legs. That will slow them down. Tachi will be provided to you when we reach the hunting point. Do not test the sharpness of it. Remember your biology lessons. Tachi is the only sword that will pierce the skull of Titanotheres. When you have the Tachi and you have slowed the Titanotheres, go for the brain. Either you kill Titanotheres or it kills you.”

They reached the hunting point and were soon taking positions. The sound of the Titanotheres running mad was so clear. Ashok turned and saw Sanjay, who was sweating like he just took a shower. “Master your courage, Sanjay” Ashok patted on his back and looked for anyone else running scared. Almost all of them were afraid of the Titanotheres. ‘They should be afraid. Fear of death is the most motivating thought for one to live’ he thought.

The hunting point, more looked like a baseball stadium, only bigger in length. As soon as the animals rushed towards the entry gate, the only one for the city, people fired at will. While the Thanator and Viperwolves were taken down by the RRMK30, the same weapon slowed the Titanotheres. There were only six Titanotheres, so Ashok and another senior hunter Rishank, charged in the field. They both know where the brains of Titanotheres exactly are, and with ease, they jumped up on them and sent the Tachi right through the skull. With only one Titanotheres left, Ashok’s sword was stuck in the skull of the last Titanotheres he killed.

The last one, charged towards Ashok. Realizing he don’t have the Tachi to kill it, he jumped down from the killed Titanotheres and started running for the gate. Rishank, watching this, but unable to help because the Titanotheres had already crossed him. It’s difficult to get on top of it when it already crossed you – the only good chance of getting on top of Titanotheres is when it is running towards you.

Ashok quickly got on top of the gate, searched for anyone who has a Tachi. But, almost all of them were at the other side of the gate, still firing at the remaining Viperwolves. He looked at Rishank, still at the field, unable to think of what to do next. Ashok quickly shouted, “Rishank, throw your Tachi on his stomach!” He knew that, stomach is the only area where the bones are so deep that the Tachi would just create a flesh wound. It will also be quicker to remove the sword from there. As soon as Rishank’s Tachi went inside the stomach, Titanotheres slowed further and bent a little more, while still running. Ashok quickly jumped on it, from the gate, removed the Tachi from its stomach and sent it right inside the brain, not from the top, but from the bottom and slide out of it, inches before it collapsed on the ground.

It took another twenty more minutes to kill all the animals. Only one casualty was found, a young hunter died trying to kill a Viperwolf. Ashok was collecting all the blood stained Tachi, yelling “Good job, folks!” Some of them were used to kill Thanators and Viperwolves as well – you can’t aim RRMK30 when they are so close to you. When he finished collecting all the Tachi, he looked at the sky, as he always do after a fight. A VAAC, was piercing through the brightly lit blue sky. “Too late, guys” he said.

~———~

Raji knew that Ashok was not home. He should be busy fighting the animals. She had told him numerous time to quit the hunter job, but he insisted that it is for the safety of her and all the other people that he care about. He always know how to shut me up, she thought. He’d be coming home tired, so she decided to make him a cup of blue milk that he loves. As she walked closer towards his home, she couldn’t help but admire the beauty of it.

She stood there, near the big tree and waited a few more seconds to admire the house. Ashok had said that he wanted his home to be exactly like the one he had seen in an image back home. He was so specific with the details that the builders were bewildered he would soon take over their job! The thought created a smile on her lips and she moved closer to his home. The yellowish lights on the inside made it look a little haunting, but she was not afraid.

As she started boiling the blue milk, she thought about why Ashok always compared her love as ‘haunting’. “The thoughts about you are haunting me, Raji” he would declare now and then. ‘Haunting is not a bad thing, Raji’ he would explain ‘it just means you are persistently and disturbingly present in my mind all the time’. He really knows how to shut me up, she thought once again.

Ashok had a little more time before it gets dark after the formalities were over, so he headed right to the book shop. When the angry Titanotheres was running for him, it made a twitch in his brain and made him remember the book Raji loved the most, “One Hundred years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. He opened the book, folded the pages from the center in such a way, it formed a heart. Inside the heart, he placed a note “I stopped hunting. Will you haunt me for the rest of my life?”

~———~

“Ashok is becoming more and more famous” declared the lieutenant Vineeth “everyone in the city will vote for him if he decides to run for the Mayor.”

“He is right, Mr. Mayor. You have to do something about it” said General Ashish, backing up his lieutenant. The three of them had been the partners. They had done things that is not supposed to be done even back home.

“What did he do this time?”

“He lead a fourteen member squad, out of which twelve of them were inexperienced in today’s breach. It is one of the biggest breach too! And he still managed to kill all the animals, with only one casualty.”

“What do you suggest we do to take care of this Ashok?” asked the Mayor. With a cruel smile, General started explaining his plan.

~———~

As Raji and Ashok were walking towards the hundred year old church of Andromeda, Raji couldn’t help but smile all the time. Her lifelong best friend is going to be her husband. And, he quit the hunter job too, just because she requested it! She would never forget how he proposed her. The thought brought more smile to her, making her cheek go all rose. Ashok was equally happy, but was impatient. He just wanted to be her husband now. But this age old groupies who call themselves the ‘fathers’ have a lot of ceremonies to finish.

As the ceremony continued, Ashok was smiling and acknowledging the wishes from the crowd. His thoughts drifted back and ofcourse, he couldn’t take the words from Sanjay seriously though. “I heard the politicians are afraid of your popularity, Ashok. They may try something at your wedding” he had said. ‘Almost all of my friends and the ones who I care about are here’, Ashok thought. He had earlier seen General Ashish and Lieutenant Vineeth casing this place. He knew they both were kind of a right hand for the Mayor. ‘No, I’m just thinking too much’ Ashok consoled himself.

The ‘fathers’ were rigorously shouting what seemed to be the verse from the holy ‘Book of Ymir‘. Ashok had little faith in religion, but Raji seemed to be having a lot of faith in it. That is also the reason to choose this hundred year old church, otherwise he’d have preferred his own home! He remembered how they had debate on Ymir whether he’s just a man or a God. It will go on and on! Raji surprisingly had a lot of opinion on God which Ashok himself wasn’t aware.

While Ashok drifted into the old memories, his hands and heads subconsciously acknowledging the wishes from the crowd, a hired gun was spraying the acetone around the church. His usual choice was always methyl, but the person who hired him was so adamant that he use acetone. The chance of survival when using acetone is almost zero! This city is going to lose a lot of people today was his thought. Once he was finished, he removed the uniform with that famous fertilizer company name in it, sprayed some more acetone in it and lighted a match.

Ashok’s day dream was cut short by the gasps and screams he heard. Just as he feared, he saw the fire broke out of nowhere. Ashok knew that it is not an accidental fire immediately, as the fire surrounded the church completely, leaving no exit path. Sanjay’s earlier words on his life threat echoed on Ashok’s ears. Although he did not believe and took it seriously, he did however, took some precautions, courtesy of Rishank and his another best friend Mujeeb. One of that, was to install the Nanadium sand packs found only at the bottom of the Eureka Mountains. He ran towards the confession room and pulled the liver that Mujeeb had installed there recently.

~———~

Ashok was sipping his favorite blue milk prepared by Raji on his lawn when the Mayor’s Paragon Panther stopped in front of his house. The big man had trouble getting out of his own vehicle. His face did not look happy and he surely hasn’t slept last night. Lieutenant Vineeth and General Ashish were at the small gate, as if they’re guarding that small-arch-like-gate. Ashok offered a seat to the Mayor.

“Is it true that you are going to nominate yourself for this year’s Mayor Election?” The Mayor had no pleasantries to exchange.

“After you tried to kill almost all the people I care about? Yes” he was not interested in small-talk too.

“You do know this is just the beginning, right?”

“Oh I know this is the end of you” he pointed the two at the gate and “you too!”

With that, The Mayor stormed out of Ashok’s house with a puzzled Lieutenant Vineeth and General Ashish following him. At the same time, Raji’s voice came running from the garden.

“Ashok, come here, come fast… The caterpillar is almost a butterfly now!”

THE END.

~———~

PS:

1. This is a guest entry for the short story competition hosted by me at Cognizant Blogs! :)

2. The competition insists that the contestants use given topics/images to write the short story. The topics are: a. Caterpillar to Butterfly b. Blood stained sword c. [A fire breaks out in a 100 year-old place of religious worship, during a packed religious ceremony…] Images are:

i. 

ii. 

iii. 

This story is written on all the topics and images given. I sincerely hope you get all of it [The third topic was a little tough to include in this story, some may feel like it was 'inserted' if you know what I mean] Leaving this “PS” aside, I have 2182 words in this story, well within the limit  [Limit was !<600 and="">2400]

3. Dedicating this story to a good friend of mine, Ashok and his newborn.

4. The italic words in the story is not a normal term. Although it can easily be related to the intended reference, I thought I should make an index. Here it is:

Reference	Meaning
Pandora	Name of the planet
Adamantium	A strong metal – like iron
credit	Money like $ or Rupee
Rheinmetall RMK30 or RRMK30	Ricoil-less rifle
Titanotheres, Thanator andViperwolves	Animal names, copied from Avatar movie
Stynx	A fictional river
Tachi	A sword
Argo	A vehicle much like the same name in Star Trek Movie
VAAC	VAAC – Valkyrie Airborne Assault Carrier, A Flight
blue milk	Just like our normal milk
church of Andromeda	a religious place
Book of Ymir	Bible kind of religious book
Ymir	God – like Jesus
Nanadium sand	a form of sand which controls the fire easily
Eureka Mountains	A fictional mountain
Paragon Panther	A vehicle name from the novel Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang

[Short Story] The Next Three Days

I was tagged in the office blog to write a story based on the below image (Padam-paarthu-kadhai-sol). 

Here's my story:

The astrologer had told Sampath that the planets that revolve around his ‘sign’ are not doing any good for him. He had to be very careful or he’ll met with an accident – one that could even take his life. Sampath immediately went pale. The astrologer also told him that if he survives the next three days, with day three being the worst of all, he could survive this ‘Gandam’. Sampath felt relieved after that and had been very careful in each and every step that he made.

Day1:

Sampath was crossing a road and was very careful in watching both ways multiple time. He took three steps and suddenly an FZ appeared about a hundred feet from him on the right side. He felt as if it appeared just about 10 feet from him and froze. His ultra-motion reflexes told him to run forward, but he ignored that completely and ran back to the original place where he was standing. After what looked like an eternity, the FZ finally crossed him with the guy riding it giving him a weird look.

Day 2:

It was a national holiday and Sampath gets to stay home. He was never appreciative of an Independence Day, but this Independence Day meant a lot to him. He felt very safe inside his 2BHK apartment rather than crossing a dangerous road or a bike ride, which he used to love. Suddenly, there was a power cut and he felt irritated. The sun, which takes special care of Chennai, was taking additional special care now and he started to sweat. It was about 4 in the evening and Sampath was glad that the day is going very quickly. Just one more day and I’ll be out of this mess, he thought. After wiping down the sweat on his face and tasting the salty thingy, he decided to have a bath.

He stepped into the shower and turned into a stone until the water washed all the sweat and his fears. He stopped the shower and before he could get the towel, his eyes gazed upon the new bath tub. The image of Chon Wang and Roy O’Bannon having a bubble bath in the movie Shanghai Noon crossed his mind and a smile appeared on his face. He took a step towards the tub and the bad combination of soap foam, water and a wet foot on the tiles started moving his one leg without his permission or willingness. His brains immediately sent light speed commands to grab any nearest object and the reflexive hands desperately searched for a hold. Meanwhile his other foot, having to maintain a stronger balance, made the same mistake of stepping into the same bad combination and started travelling in the other direction. As he was on the way to pose a ‘karate-kid-Jaden-Smith-on-the-rail’, to his horror, the bath tub in front of him came much closer towards his face. The desperate reflexive hands, finally got a hold of the ends of the bath tub and both the legs obeyed his order and stopped moving. He felt the additional adrenaline pumping through his heart.

Day 3:

As soon as Sampath woke up on the third morning, he decided to take a leave. He felt so safe yesterday, baring the bath tub incident, he decided to feel the same today. He called in sick. Being superstitious, he decided to do exactly the same thing he did the previous day so nothing will happen to him today as well. He ordered pizza for lunch after skipping breakfast. He watched the same channels that he watched yesterday. As fate would have it, the power cut happened at the same time as the previous day. Sampath took that as a sign and decided to take a bath. He was so careful this time – watching each and every step.

As soon as he finished taking shower, he filled the tub and when he was just about to enter carefully inside the tub, his calling bell rang. The parrot-like calling bell sound, only much higher in decibels, made a terrible impact on him as he once again almost repeated the same incident, this time just enough alertness saving him from a slip. The adrenaline effect was back. With a long sigh, he took the floor-mat from the bathroom door and put it near the bath tub for a safe entry. He wrapped the towel around his waist and started walking towards the door. The sudden change in things worried his superstitious consciousness – things are changing and not happening as he planned. He peeped in through the hole and saw his neighbor’s son. He opened the door and Rahul barged in and ran towards the back of the house. Sampath knew why he was running – he’s in for the daily quota of his cigarette. Rahul stayed with his parents, so he could not smoke inside his house. He always used Sampath’s balcony for his one cigarette per day addiction and would spend some time with Sampath until the ‘smell’ wears off. He’s much earlier today, Sampath thought.

As Rahul sat on the railing and smoked his ten rupees Gold Flakes Kings, he felt relieved. He then, immediately felt the opposite of that reaction – an instant panic, as he saw his father walking out of the apartment building towards the main gate, casually passing a glance at Rahul’s side. As an instinctive reaction, Rahul stopped the smoke coming out of his mouth which caused him to start a violent cough, sending more smoke than he casually would have let it out and, drawing more attention towards him. He immediately started running towards the door, still coughing. In the hurriedness, he forgot that he still holds the cigarette in his hand. He realized that when he was halfway in Sampath’s 2BHK and saw the bathroom. Without much thought, he threw the cigarette inside and continued running as if he’s fleeing a crime scene. Sampath couldn’t even react until the front door slammed behind a maniacally running Rahul. Weird, he thought.

Sampath felt the cigarette smell inside his apartment as clear as a rotten egg smell in a college Chemistry laboratory. He gave a little thought about what would have caused Rahul to run like that. After a few seconds, he remembered that he didn’t care. He then had a dilemma – whether to dress up and finish watching ‘Real Steel’ for the umpteenth number of time in Star Movies or to continue entering the bath tub and slide into heaven. He choose the later as he remembered how he descended into heaven after he entered into the tub yesterday. His superstitious mind told him that the heaven still awaits – a similar incident before that tub entering yesterday, happened today too. Feeling good that things are back on track, he entered the bathroom, removed the towel and stepped into the floor-mat for a safe entry.


His superstitious consciousness didn’t know the one thing that changed from yesterday – the-still-burning-cigarette that Rahul thrown inside. Of all the places in the bathroom, it landed on the floor-mat and of all the places he could place his foot, he stepped his right foot directly on it and the instant fire-on-the-skin made him take it back. But, the left foot was unaware of this and had already started losing the balance, for the right foot should have gained it by now. This unbalance, sent him back, with his whole body weight running around his body to find a place. When his head hit the back wall, the body weight immediately shifted there, making the impact much harder and painful. Although his legs found the balance again after the impact, it was too late. Blood came rushing through the back of the skull and Sampath started losing his consciousness. The drowsy legs now, moved around the bathroom until it hit the side of the bath tub – the one which saved him the other day. The drowsiness had caused him take a hundred and eighty degree turn. His eyes were on the place of impact and he saw the blood spatter pattern and it looked like an art. By the time he was admiring the art, the impact on his leg made him bend back a little and the heartless gravity, constantly doing it’s work, pulled him inside the bath tub, back first. His desperate eyes, still observing the art until it automatically moved along with his head, from the wall to the window, where the sun was acting as an eyewitness to everything that happened inside the bathroom. The sad, colorless water, having found red in itself, jumped out of the tub in joy. He laid in the bloody bath tub, on the third day, his eyes wide open, his last vision – of the sunlight from his bathroom window.