[Book Review] 6174 - தமிழ்

க. சுதாகரின் “6174” நாவல் கிட்டத்தட்ட நான்கு வருடங்களுக்கு முன் எனக்கு இருந்த புத்தகம் மீதான மோகத்தை மீண்டும் கொண்டு வந்திருக்கிறது. நான்கு வருடத்திற்கு முன், Dan Brown-ன் “The Lost Symbol” புத்தகத்தை இரண்டு நாளில் படித்து முடித்தேன். அவ்வளவு பரபரப்பு அந்த கதை! பிளஸ், Dan Brown-ன் நாவல்கள் மீது அந்த சமயம் அவ்வளவு ஈர்ப்பு எனக்கு. இந்த புத்தகத்தினைப் பற்றி நான் கூறுவதற்கு முன், என்னைப்பற்றி நீங்கள் கொஞ்சம் (சத்தியமா கொஞ்சம் தான்) தெரிந்துகொள்ள வேண்டும். நான் ஒரு Mathematics Graduate. புத்தகம் மீதான ஆர்வம் எனக்கு வர, என் உயிர் நண்பன் எனக்கு பரிந்துரைத்த முதல் நாவல் – Dan Brown-ன் Digital Fortress. கணிதம், எண் கணிதம், இரகசியஎழுத்துக்கலை (Cryptography) என அந்த நாவலின் மூலம் Dan Brown என் மனதில் ஒரு பெரிய இடத்தைப் பிடித்துவிட்டார். விளைவு, 2007-ல் புத்தகம் படிக்கத்தொடங்கிய நான், அவர் எழுதிய அனைத்து நாவல்களையும் (இன்று வரை) படித்து முடித்துவிட்டேன். கிட்டத்தட்ட ஒன்றரை வருடங்கள் முன் புத்தகம் மீதான் ஆர்வம் கொஞ்சம் கொஞ்சமாய் குறைய ஆரம்பிக்க, அதே Dan Brown-ன் Inferno நான் படித்து முடிக்க கிட்டத்தட்ட ஒரு வருடம் ஆனது! இப்படியிருக்க, ஒரு மாதத்திற்கு முன் மீண்டும் என் உயிர் நண்பனின் தலையீடு... இம்முறை 6174 புத்தகம் படி என்று கூறினான். 6174. கதையின் தலைப்பே சற்று வித்தியாசமாக இருக்க, கடைசியாய் நான் படித்த தமிழ் நாவல் பற்றி யோசித்துப் பார்க்கையில், அது கிட்டத்தட்ட மூன்று வருடங்களுக்கு முன் – சுஜாதாவின் “பிரிவோம் சந்திப்போம்”. இக்கதையை (6174) படித்து முடித்த பின், இதற்கு இதை விட ஒரு அருமையான தலைப்பு வைத்திருக்க முடியாது என்றே தோன்றியது! 6174 புத்தகம் பற்றிய இந்த விமர்சனம் என்னுடைய சொந்த கருத்து மட்டுமே.

இனி புத்தகம் பற்றி...

இது ஒரு த்ரில்லர் கதை. தமிழில் நான் படித்த வரை (நான் படித்தவை மிக மிக குறைவு!), இது போல் வேகமாக செல்லும் மிஸ்ட்ரி-த்ரில்லர் நாவல்கள் குறைவு! நாவலைப்பற்றி Develop the hints ஸ்டைலில் சொல்ல வேண்டுமெனில்:

லெமூரியா-போர்க்கப்பல்கள்-விஞ்ஞானிகள்-தீவிரவாதிகள்-விண்கற்கள்-பழந்தமிழ் பாடல்கள்-புதிர்கள்-எண்கள்-திருவனந்தபுரம்-லோனார்-பீகார்-மியன்மார்-பிரமிட்.

புத்தகம் படிக்க ஆரம்பித்த சிறிது நேரத்தில் எனக்கு சுதாகர் அவர்கள் இந்திரா சௌந்தர்ராஜன் போல முயற்சி செய்கிறார் போலும் என்று எண்ணினேன். என் எண்ணத்தை பல வகைகளில் தவிடு பொடியாக்கிவிட்டார். புத்தகம் ஆறு சாப்டர்களாக பிரிக்கபட்டிருக்கிறது. 1. ஆதி கதை, 2. ஒருங்குதல், 3. பயணம் 4. அடைவு, 5. இயக்கம், 6. பிறகு...

ஆறு சாப்டர்கள் என்று சொல்வதை விட ஆதி கதை மற்றும் ஒருங்குதல் (63 பக்கங்கள்) ஒரு சாப்டர் என்றும் மீதி அனைத்தும் (340 பக்கம்) ஒரு சாப்டர் என்றும் பிரித்துக்கொள்ளலாம்! முதல் சாப்டர் அறிமுகம் என்றால் இரண்டாம் சாப்டர் தான் பயணம். முதல் 63 பக்கங்கள் படிக்க எனக்கு ஒரு வாரம் ஆனது. அடுத்த 340 பக்கம் மூன்று நாளில் (Weekdays) படித்து முடித்துவிட்டேன்! அவ்வளவு வேகம்!

இப்புத்தகம் என்னை இப்படி கட்டிப்போட கதை ஒரு முக்கிய காரணம் என்றாலும், கதையின் பலமாக கணிதம், புதிர்கள் என என்னை ஈர்க்கும் சமாச்சாரங்கள். மேலும், பல இடங்களில் ஆசிரியரோடு என் personal கருத்துக்களும் ஒத்துப்போனது தான் முக்கிய காரணம். உதாரணமாக

“என்னதான் நாம கற்பனை பண்ணினாலும் நமக்கு அறிந்ததைக் கொண்டு மட்டுமே அறியாததை அறிய முடியும்.”

நானும் சில சமயங்களில் இது போல யோசித்திருக்கிறேன்! இது போல பரிமாணங்கள், சிந்தனைகள், 6174, கோலங்கள், பிரமிடுகள் என கதையின் போக்கில் வரும் சில (நமக்கு) தெரியாத சில விஷயங்களைப் பற்றி விவரிக்கும் இடங்களில் தெளிவு!

கதைக்கு வழக்கம் போல் ஒரு நாயகன், ஒரு நாயகி என்று இல்லாமல், கதையில் வரும் அனைவருமே முக்கிய பங்கு வகிக்கும் வகையிலும் என்னைக் கவர்ந்துவிட்டார், ஆசிரியர் சுதாகர் அவர்கள். தூத்துக்குடிக்காரர்! அவர் தமிழை ‘நான்’ ரசிக்காமல் இருக்க முடியுமா!

புத்தகத்தில் நான் கண்ட ஒரே நெகடிவ் பாயின்ட் – ஒரு சீனுக்கும் மற்றொரு சீனுக்கும் இடையில் போதிய இடைவெளி இல்லாமை. சென்னையில் ஒரு சீன், சிகாகோவில் ஒரு சீன், நியோர்கில் ஒரு சீன் என, இவைகளுக்கு இடைவெளி ஒரு பாரா மட்டுமே! வழக்கமாக தொடரும் ஒரு பாரா போல! அந்த பாராவில் ஒரு வரி படித்த பின் தான் இது வேற சீன் என்றே புரிகிறது. ஒருவேளை இது சில பல வருடங்கள் கழித்து நான் புத்தகம் படிப்பதால் ஏற்பட்ட பாதிப்பாக கூட இருக்கலாம். படித்தவர்கள் சொல்லுங்கள்!

ஒரு புத்தகத்தைப் பற்றி நான் எழுதும் முதல் போஸ்ட் இது. My First Book Review. Comments and Critics welcome.

புத்தகம் வேண்டுமானால் சொல்லுங்கள்...

[55F] Two of Us

Have you heard of a 55F? It’s 55 fiction… as the name indicates, is all about keeping it short to exactly 55 words while building something fictitious. For more you can check out the WIKI link, HERE.

For those who hate reading long stories, Here's a 55F for you! This is for a contest here at Cognizant Blogs.

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“Yeah, right!”

“No, I’m serious. She did propose.”

The look on his face said he was not kidding. How could she chose him? He always thought ‘he’ would be the last person she would choose.

“I always thought her choice would be between you and me. Never considered him.”

“Yeah, that makes two of us.”

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50 Years of Time and Space

I was inspired by, and I wanted to inspire people too. This is a lengthy post, please spend some time – imagine the time and effort I spent to write this! This is about a series called “Doctor Who”, but please, don’t navigate away, you non-series addict people, what’s wrong in reading? There isn’t any pre-requisite for this post to be understood, so, please do read on. I’m emphasizing this because, most of my series related posts are the least read posts. This could very well be the only time I’m writing a dedicated post on a series.


As you know, I’m a series addict, and this doesn’t come as a surprise to most of you that I’m in love with this series “Doctor Who”. Having said that, I want you to know that I’ve never enjoyed a series like this, the fun, the imagination and the deliverance, which “Doctor Who” had. I must tell you that I’ve seen a lot of series, but I have never spent any of my time to emphasize people to watch a series (only when they ask me about!) That is the amount of impact I’m having after finishing the 7 season Doctor Who. I can go on, but let me start to inspire you. 

  
Who’s the hero, who’s the hero?: 

Now, let’s begin. The series, Doctor who started 50 years back, in 1963. But, I haven’t seen all of it – it restarted again during 2005. There’s where my Doctor journey begun. This series is a Science Fiction, about a time travelling Alien – ‘A Time Lord’ from a planet called Gallifrey, who calls himself ‘Doctor’. No one knows his actual name, the reason behind the series name, Doctor Who? He looks like a human, with two hearts. There’s where my inspiration begun – two hearts! He mostly travels with a ‘companion’, a female, mostly a human. Now, the first question that arose in my mind after knowing about the series that begun during 1963 was, how a single person can be casted as a Doctor in all of the series. There should definitely be a recast. Yes, there was a lot of recast. 12 of them (Well, technically 13, but you’ll understand when you see) since the series begun. But, this is a science fiction series! So, they added a scientific reason for every recast! Now, I’m sure most of you would have seen our “Shakthimaan” where the enthusiastic journalist ‘Geetha Viswas’ was recast. Did they give you a reason why? Doctor who provides answer to almost everything around the series – it’s like you’re living and traveling along with the Doctor! 

  

A picture of the two hears of The Doctor and the 11 Doctors, in the order from 1963 to 2013.

The Characteristic Doctors: 

The thing about recast is that, they almost never change. They do the same work – save people or sentimental or love someone (like Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins/The Dark Knight – the character never changed). But, after every recast, after ‘regeneration’ as they call it here, a new Doctor will take over the role. But, he will not be the same character as the previous actor, the director gives the actor his own space and to add his own essence to the actual character. For instance, my ‘first’ Doctor (the 9th Doctor), casted by Christopher Eccleston, repeats the word “Fantastic” very frequently. The next one, David Tennant, who took over the role, repeats the word “Allons-y” a French word meaning “Let’s go”. The next one, Matt Smith, the 11th Doctor, repeats two – “Bow-ties-are-cool” and “Geronimo”. 

The words that describes The Doctors.

The Time Machine: 

He calls his time machine a ‘TARDIS’ – Time And Relative Dimension In Space. It’s much more than a machine, it disguises as anything nearby where it’s landed. When it lands near a 1963 police box, one of its circuits is broken and is stuck in that shape forever. It’s like a police box, more like a telephone box, only bigger on the inside! The first look at itself, impress you! They call it a ‘Time Lord Art’ – like a 3D painting! It’s actually not the perfect time machine; it’s totally an unreliable one. Most of the time, the Doctor intends to go somewhere and it takes him somewhere else! That way, the fun goes on! The most lovable thing of the TARDIS is the sound of it when it’s landing, a cyclic wheezing, groaning noise, anyone who’s a Doctor Who fan, would love it! 

TARDIS, the Time Machine

  
What does a Doctor do? 

So, what does a Doctor do? Heal people? Save people? Milk money from the people? (Err, going off topic!) Well, since this is an alien Doctor, he (ofcourse) saves people, saves universe, saves earth, saves Aliens, and does a lot of savings. But, let me tell you – it never gets old and that’s not exactly what he does all the time in the series! The thing that makes you interesting is that, how he saves and who he saves. What more, who his enemy is. Time travel and outer world kindles your imagination, the Doctor faces a variety of enemies, and you’d be surprised that you might fall in love with the way an enemy was created. I was inspired by a lot of his enemies, but “The Weeping Angels” and the “Daleks” are one of the best!  

The Doctor, saving...

An image that I found amusing describing the Daleks

  

The Imagination: 

As I said, time travel and outer world kindles your imagination. Steven Moffat, the lead writer of Doctor Who said “What would be the point of having this job if I didn’t get to make up some of the maddest possible scenes I’ve ever had in my head since I was a kid?” He did create a lot of monsters – I love the weeping angels most among his other creations. This would be a spoiler for the future Doctor Who audience, but I couldn’t resist writing about the Daleks and the Weeping Angles. Daleks are another alien race, rivalry to the Time Lords. They’re like India and Pakistan. Now, you know about Time Lords – human alike with two hearts, but Daleks are just like a robot (not robot, robot, inside the metal case, there’s an alien creature!) with only one emotion – ‘hate’. They don’t have any other emotions, care only about the Dalek race and wouldn’t hesitate to kill any other race for no reason at all (just to show their supremacy), making them the dangerous creature who could wipe out the entire universe. The weeping angels on the other hand are like ‘Silent killers’. They look like an angel stone statue, only with their eyes covered by their own hands, disguising as a weeping angel. When you look at them, they won’t move. When you close your eyes to blink or move your eyes off them, they move towards you. And, when they touch you, you’ll never exist in the present, you’ll be sent to past! All the life that you would have lived, had the angels not touched you, will be theirs! Next time, when you see a stone statue, don’t blink! 

The Daleks and the Weeping Angels

  
Behind the scenes: 

Not behind the Doctor Who scenes, but the in-between-time I watched Doctor Who this past one month. I’d been in constant touch with Ramanan – the fiction lover, who inspired/introduced me to Doctor Who as you might be familiar. We would discuss on the episodes that I watched previous night and he did his best without spoilers. I had a lot of doubts, and such a patient guy he was, he cleared all of them! I must say that I equally enjoyed having a likeminded person (I’m not sure if he thinks so because, he’s much more!) to discuss this mutual interest of ours. A couple of my bay-mates noted that I chat with Ramanan frequently, and their comment was “You talk to a ‘guy’ for such a long time? What do you guys talk?” The talks about the Doctors, the ‘wait’ period, about the classic who and even the female companions! We even continue our discussion via sms/whatsapp. It was one hell of a fun ride! 

The female companions of the Doctors!

  

Impact: 

After watching Doctor Who, you’ll feel very differently. You’ll look at things in a different way – like thinking twice about taking an eye of a stone statue. You will have more imaginations, if you’re a writer, you’ll suddenly have more creative ways to produce a story. When you come across a telephone booth, you’ll think of TARDIS. When you re-watch Big Bang Theory, you’ll notice that Wil Wheaton once wore a ‘Dalek’ T-shirt. You’ll have the itch to talk to someone who watched/watching Doctor Who. You’ll be inspired and you would want to inspire someone. 

A combination of images, a phone booth, Tardis, Blink, Dalek and Wil Wheaton (Note his [black] T-Shirt in the image)

  
The end: 

The last movie I saw was over a month ago. After watching the mind blowing Doctors in the past one month, I decided to revisit my movie collections and guess what film I decided to watch – “About Time”, a movie about a time travelling man! Well, probably it’s not that bad of a movie, but my expectation after Doctor Who could have spoiled it! Before I finish, I want to tell you something. If you have watched ‘The Big Bang Theory’, you’d want a person like Sheldon Cooper. If you have watched Sherlock Holmes, you’d love to have a personal detective. If you have watched Shakthimaan, you’d want super powers. But, if you watch Doctor Who, you wouldn’t want anything, you would just want with the journey to go on and on! Right, then, thanks for your patience to read this long post; I hope I have inspired you. Let me know if you want the 7 season Doctor Who! See ya!

Image Courtesy: Google
The joining of pictures: Fotor.

[The White Knight] - 4 - The Team

Intro on A White Knight | Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3

Disclaimer: While the technology described in the story may come true, chances are they are my wild imagination and creativity. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Episode 4 : The Team

“Now… Tell me. What could be his next target and what kind of action can we expect from him? Why do you think he does this? And how do you suggest we trap him?” Thiru asked CM’s Elite team.

“Uh…” almost everyone thought aloud, no one coming up with a possible answer.

“For God’s sake, I didn’t ask you a question from Algebra.”

“He could hack into cameras and look for people who might do some err… things. Or probably, take a snap of people committing crime.” One of the Elite said.

“Ok, how do you suggest we trap him?”

“Err… we could also monitor people and if we see someone committing a crime, we could err… follow them and catch … err… …”

“You know, we should actually be doing that. We’re not doing it and that’s why someone has decided to” said Thiru.

“Sir, if I may – I think he has hacked into almost all the cameras around here. So he could use them to capture a crime – like the way he did with our fellow cops. I have a good idea on how he took action against the cops – I think he used some kind of electronic mechanism – the one he used to burst all the head lights – in a similar way he could do some property damage to his next victims.”

Thiru was surprised to see a woman standing up and speaking with so much authority.

“What’s your name?”

“Savithri IPS, Sir”

“Have you profiled him? Do you have a theory that I can use?”

“Yes Sir. This is not an unplanned stuff – I think this guy has been working on this for months. His every step, actions are discreet and all of them were done via technology. He’s nowhere to be seen near any of the crime scenes and I don’t think he has man power to do it simultaneously around Tamil Nadu. I think we should look into some good software engineers and hackers who had recently lost someone very close to them.”

“Why do you say that?” Thiru was suddenly interested in what this young IPS has to say as the last line caught his attention. All the Elite team knew, was there’s a man called Ram and if they could bring him, he could help them get the criminal. Anyone could form the rest of her theory.

“No one suddenly decides to save a country by risking his life. He must have lost someone very close to him – a wife or a son or a daughter or a father or a mother or very good friend. That loss could have been an accident involving head lights or any violation of traffic rules. That must have been the reason he chose to bring order in the traffic as a beginning to his quest.”

“What makes you think like that?”

“Because, I think it’s personal. When you start something big like this, you start with your personal satisfaction.”

“You seem very sure.”

“That’s what I’d have done, if I were the White Knight, Sir!”

“Ok, fair enough. How do you suggest we trap him?”

“Considering the fact that the suspect is no way near any crime scene – present, past or I hope, future – this is not a typical police catching a criminal by planning ahead and setting a trap. We should stop using hackers to help us for they may be working for him. We should be collecting a list of hackers or very good software engineers from the last one year or so and narrow it down to a considerable number. And then, maybe we can form a team, split and canvass for the profile.”

The look on the face of Thiru said that he was impressed. “I’ll consider your suggestion, IPS. Now, focus on finding Ram – he may be our only hope.”

——–000000——–

“Welcome to my den, Christy”

“I told you – call me Oracle.”

“Ok. This is my wife – Raji, that’s Karthic or ‘Root’, and that’s Daniel or ‘Captain Jack Sparrow’”

“Hello”

“Wow, you look beautiful for a hacker, Christy” Raji said and immediately liked her.

“Why, you think the hackers will always have big glasses and cheetos in their hair?” Raji re-considered her previous decision. “I still don’t believe you talked me into your little – ‘quest’, you call it?” Christy said.

“You will one day –”

(sighs) “I know, I’ll one day be proud for what I do next. So, are we here to work as a team? I prefer working alone” she said and Karthic immediately liked her.

“I used to, too. But, not anymore!” Karthic said looking at her.

“Come on guys, we have a lot to discuss.” Ram said, deciding on something.

——–000000——–

“The new update on the-white-knight.com is out and this time it looks like the Knight is targeting the people who give or get bribes. The knight claims that he has a list of people who happens to have this as a habit and given them, an usual deadline, of one day to change them. He also requests all of the fellow citizens to pay taxes on time and be a good citizen to the country. We don’t know what the Knight has this time in his mind to do to the people who yet again, consider him as just another hacker. This is Rajesh along with the cameraman Shyam for the Daily News.”

The update on the-white-knight.com said:

“Giving and getting Bribe is against the law. There’s a list with me, it’s time you stop this if this is your habit. One day. BTW, pay your taxes!”

——–000000——–

“Ok. The update’s out. How long do you think it’ll take for you guys to finish what I requested?”

“A week, maybe more – this is a difficult task”

“I don’t think we have a week. Thiru is onto me – he may come in anytime though that main door.”

“What do you suggest?”

“I think it’s time we bring in the last resource.”

Ram finished talking to the group. Karthic, Raji, Daniel and Christy were looking at him as he was leaving.

“Are you still going to put time in finding The_Pink_Panther? You can help us, you know!”

“I’ve found her. Valli was not easy to find – she covered her tracks well. I think I’ll have hard time bringing her in. She’s essential for this job and that’s the reason I’d spend so much time and now risk going out. Keep working – even if I don’t ever make it back. Remember the ultimate goal – that should keep you all motivated!” Ram finished and moved towards the garage.

“What do you mean by ‘don’t ever’?” asked Raji, but he was well out of sight before she finished the sentence.

——–000000——–

Inside the Office of the Commissioner’s conference room, the CM’s Elite team was talking to themselves. “He was born in the southern most part of the Tamil Nadu. I don’t think he’s in Chennai. My best hope is to find him somewhere near his hometown.” “If he’s not in Chennai, then how come a lot of cops that we had the misfortune to arrest ourselves were from Chennai?” “You know, the canteen tiffin rates had been revised! Damn, I’ll miss a lot of savings!” “You know, I think he’s watching us right now – what we are talking and how we are planning to arrest him.” “That is highly impossible. This area has been swept for bugs and other electronic devices. We have disabled the cameras in and around of this Commissioner’s office – there’s no way he can see or hear us.” “I think the Commissioner doesn’t get this kind of coffee or tea. He gets a quality one, I bet!” “You do remember that he caught one of the staffs here at Commissioner’s office getting a bribe in a photo?” “That was before we darkened all the cameras. Now he has no eyes or ears.” “I think if he wanted to see or hear what we have to say, he’ll find some way to do. That guy’s been hacking into all kinds of systems.” “Why is the coffee always cold?”

“Shut up you all” roared Thiru, storming into the room. As if the king had returned to the den, all the people stood up instantly and flashed a salute that’ll make Captain Vijayakanth proud. “You all had been given one task – one task only – to find a man who lives in Tamil Nadu. You’ve been searching for over one and a half month – involving almost all the hackers around India, announcing big rewards and yet, you couldn’t come up with a single man’s location. Now you’re so worried that he’s planted a bug under your *** and the coffee is always served cold.”

There was silence all around.

“Sir –” someone started speaking and Thiru looked at him as if he’s going to melt him using the fires from his eyes. He gulped and turned his gaze away.

“Just tell me if someone – anyone here has any good information that’ll lead to Ram.”

Some people looked at each other, but there was silence all around.

“OK. I want everybody in the room to leave. Joint Commissioner Vinoth” he called out and turned his gaze to Savithri “Savithri IPS, you both stay.”

Everybody started moving except for Vinoth and Savithri. Thiru called them close after closing the door of the conference room.

“I’ve located Ram. He should be in one of the houses purchased in the name of Ram, Ram Jr., or Rajeswari near Kanyakumari.”

“How are you sure?” asked Savithri.

“You know, I had a list of people who I suspected to be the White Knight – a list of glorified hackers. Only Joint Commissioner Vinoth knew about this, now you too. Ram was on top of it, but I told you all that, he could help us get the White Knight. I was not sure if it’s Ram, but I sure hoped someone would bring him in. Something told me that if I could get a hold of anyone, including Ram – even if he’s not the White Knight, I could get hold of all of ‘em. I was finally able to get a hold of one.”

“Who did you get?”

“I think her name is Valli, but she calls herself and prefer calling her ‘The_Pink_Panther’”

— To be continued.

[The White Knight] - 3 - Progress...

Hello there! How's it going? Well, it’s been over two months since the second part. So sorry if I have made you wait (!) for a long period for the third part. It’s been over a month since I blogged – I wanted to write another short story for a contest hosted on Cognizant Blogs, but couldn’t find time to finish. You might wonder what I was doing during these days – work was there, but I was actually Lost. Finished the series “Lost” by last week and since then I’d been dying to write back. The good news is, I’ll most probably finish The White Knight in about four to five episodes (7 to 8 episodes in all), so – Thanks for your patience? :-D

This is my 50th Post in the blogger world, but I've crossed over 70 blogs at Cognizant in about just over an year! Thanks for all your support!

Enter the White Knight!

--------000000--------

Intro on A White Knight | Episode 1 | Episode 2

Disclaimer: While the technology described in the story may come true, chances are they are my wild imagination and creativity. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Episode 3: Progress...

It’s been over a month since the White Knight had exposed the corrupt cops. Since then, every day, his website was updated with photos of corrupt cops, doing things. Until a week ago, it was just photos – but from last week, the photos had details of the cop – who he is and why he is committing a crime. The media feasted in it and described The White Knight as someone who could change the history of cops – history of crimes and history of India. Some of the celebrities, when asked about The White Knight, said they’d feature in a movie as ‘the-white-knight’!

The Commissioner was really pissed. Until a week ago, it was only photos and they were able to manage the press. This White Knight is proving to be difficult – he’s publishing details of the cops now, making it unbearable for the cops to come out. He’s just showing his power! On a personal note, Thiru did notice that the crime rate in the city had gone down tremendously. Cops coming into duty on time and considering it seriously while doing it! “This guy really has some power. I don’t know why he’s doing this though!” said a fellow police officer and Thiru just admitted “He’s got a good heart!”

-------- 000000 --------

“Ram, tell me why are you doing this?”

“Come on, Raji! You know why and why are you asking it now?”

“I know why, but you know you cannot keep doing this forever. Eventually you’ll get caught!”

“I know. Commissioner Thiru has narrowed it down to 5 people and I’m on the top!”

“What?”

“Yeah, and I didn't know the other three people on the list – I just know one guy!”

“So, you knew you’d get caught by Thiru. Why haven’t you told me any of this?”

“I didn’t say I was going to get caught very soon! And I’m very sure it’s not Thiru who catches me!”

“Why not? You say he has a list and you’re on top. What’s stopping him?”

“He knows what I’m doing is right. Not by the law, but by the heart.”

“Yeah, but his heart is not the law. He’ll have to answer to someone. And he will come for you.”

“Hmmm. Yeah, maybe someday… But not in the near future – that I can guarantee you.”

“Come on, Ram! If he thinks what you’re doing is right, why is he collecting a list?”

“To meet me!”

--------000000--------

The-white-knight.com was updated. The media called it “Finally” and it said the following.

The cops are now behaving; it’s time for people to behave.

Warning: Misbehaving people will be, as usual, monitored and then a list of such will be given to the cops. Now, in a normal way you would think that’s cops’ job and you know how to handle cops – you’ve seen them, manipulated them. Remember, the morale of the cops had been boosted, so there’s only a little chance you’d be slipping.

I’d been only finding faults in the cops, and forgot there are good cops too and how they got into trouble by staying out of it. Now I believe they are ready to serve the people. During this one month, I’d been watching people misbehave towards the cops, mentioning my name. This would not be the case anymore.

--------000000--------

“It was rather an unclear update as to whether the White Knight has stopped watching cops or started targeting people. It is true that we have also noted some people, despite doing wrong stuff, slip away from the hands of the cops, who perhaps were scared that their name would be coming up in the White Knight’s website if they take action. This update could be a dawn for the good cops and might create panic for people who make trouble. We are yet not sure on this, but we’ll probably know more very soon.” Said a media.

--------000000--------

“We’ll meet soon” he said and hanged up.

“Who are you meeting?” asked Raji.

“Just a fellow hacker – one of the guys who are on the list of Thiru.”

“Why do you want to meet with him?”

“It’s a surprise. I’ll tell you all the things very soon. But first, I need your help in writing an algorithm. Think you can handle a bit of Linux?”

“What do you want the algorithm to do?” she said, taking a seat near him.

“Hack, ofcourse. Target is android mobile phones.”

“All of ‘em?”

“Yep, all of ‘em. Right from Cupcake until the KitKat”

“And how do you intend to send his algorithm into all android phones?”

“That’s the easy part. I’ll tell you when it’s ready, now get on with it. Time’s of essence.”

She started moving her fingers over the keyboard. Ram looked at her for a second and realized what she is doing. He’d been kept her out for most of his stuffs, but the time is really going fast and it’s only a matter of time before Thiru or someone catches him. He decided to make the most out of it and in his desperation; he had turned his wife into an accomplice. It’s all for the good cause, he said to himself.

“So, I saw the update – you’re really going to target the people?”

“No, that was just a ‘go ahead’ for the scary cops and a warning to people. I’m not going to do anything on this. I’m sure I’ve made an impact to the people in Tamil Nadu – they know what I’m capable of. So I don’t think they’ll misbehave.”

“How are you so confident?”

“Because, people believe. They’ve seen what happened to the vehicles and what happened to the mighty cops. They’ll be scared of what’ll happen to them. If they still don’t – well, that’s why we have cops, right?” he said, finishing his codes and getting up.

“Where are you going?”

“It’s time!”

--------000000--------

“You’re the White Knight?”

“I am. It’s nice to finally meet you, Su”

“Wow, you’re good. Very few people know me as ‘Su’.”

“I know. I just wanted to impress you. Your other names would be ‘Root’, ‘Creep’, ‘Nerd’ –”

“So, you know my real name?” he cut him off.

“I do.”

“Well then, I’m at a disadvantage here. You know a lot about me and I know nothing about you.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“I don’t want to know anything about you. I know what you do and I’ve figured how you do.”

“Why didn’t you stop it?”

“I think they deserved it. What surprises me is what’s that you want from me. I’d been personally working to crack your website and locate you, but I can’t so far!”

“Don’t underestimate yourself Su. You might have cracked, but you just don’t know it yet!”

“Wait a minute. Are you –”

“That’s not why I asked you to come here. I need your help in building something.”

“Now, why would I do that? Commissioner Thiru has a put out a healthy bounty on your head. Why can’t I just hit you and take you to him? It’d be a nice little retirement for me!”

“I know you wouldn’t do that because money is not a problem for you. You can hack into any bank and take any amount of money without their knowledge. I know you’d done this once.”

“I have no idea what you are talking about.” For a moment, he went pale.

“Save it Su. I’m not Thiru.”

There was an awkward silence.

“You’d been chosen, Su. To do a very important work that you’ll one day be proud of.”

“Why me?”

“Because, you believe.”

More awkward silence followed.

“What do you want me to do?” he said, making up his mind.

“It’s a challenge, Su. I’ll tell you all about it on the way.”

“Where are we going?”

“To my den.”

“To your what?”

“My place. That’s what I call it. I’m Ram, by the way – you can call me so if you’d like to, Karthic!” they shook hands.

--------000000--------

Thiru was going over the list once again.

1. Ram
2. Daniel / CaptainJackSparrow
3. Karthic  / Root#
4. Valli / The_Pink_Panther
5. Christy / “T#3 0r@c1é”

He only had the list, but he had no idea where these guys are. He’d been trying his best, but he could not get a hold of anyone. How could these people be hiding like this? And, whyare they hiding?

He knows only one on the list is the White Knight and if that person is what he thinks he is, then it’d be hard to find him. He had already sent out the CM’s Elite team to work – their top priority being “Find Ram”. If Ram is not the White Knight, then Thiru was so sure that he could help him find the rest. He knows he was a glorified software engineer. After his only son’s departure, Ram had been out of the lime light and no one knows where he is. From what he heard, Ram took his son’s death as his own fault and has been punishing himself since then. All his friends didn’t know where he is and they last heard of him was about 7 months before. Thiru took a pen and circled Ram’s name on the list.

“I’m coming for you, Ram!”

--- To be continued.

[Movie Review] Gravity!

The last time I saw a rating of over 8 in IMDB (of a film that’s just been released) I ended up watching “The Hunger Games” and ‘disappointment’ is an understatement. The review for the movie “Gravity” was equally as good as “The Hunger Games” and IMDB once again showed a rating of over 8. After much consideration, with me still being felt a déjà vu – my roommate was pestering me to accompany him to Gravity. So we decided to watch it last Friday, at ESCAPE, ATMOS 3D. I have got to tell you, if you’d have seen my face while I was watching the movie, you’d have laughed your guts out. Most of the time, I was like ‘aaah’ and sometimes a shock in my face with the 3D effect. I have decided that I will not tell you anything about the movie, so this is a spoiler free review.

Well, if we’re not going to talk about the movie, let’s talk about the stars. It’s good to see Sandra Bullock back in the screen after almost a couple of decades (last time I saw a Sandra Bullock movie – it was Speed). She has done her part perfect; I especially liked her most in the climax. What else can we talk about? Well let’s see… Visual Effects. Man. One helluva visual effects that takes your breath away. I have to stress this once again – people who feel they don’t understand English movies – you should also watch this movie. Because, the dialogues are not very much important in this movie. Just buy yourself a 3D ticket (preferably in Satyam ATMOS screens) and just concentrate on the movie, not the dialogue [Don't take this as how Vivek says to Vikram in the Tamil movie Dhool]. I’m sure you’ll enjoy. During the first 15 minutes of the movie - watchout, or you may have your head spinning! There’s one last thing I want to talk about is the 3D effect. I’ve seen quite some movies in 3D. The thing about 3D is that, you’ll feel the effect as soon as the movie begins, but soon when you start to concentrate on the movie, you’ll forget that you’re watching a 3D film. But this one is outstanding. You will be constantly remembered that you are watching this film via 3D and it’ll make a certain impact. Don’t forget to watch the very last scene of the movie with your 3D glasses still on, it was mind blowing!

People who have watched the movie – I have a question for you. Why does ‘it’ come back after 90 minutes?  [If you know what I mean]

[The White Knight] - 2 - Clean Khaki

Intro on The White Knight is here. |    The White Knight    | Episode 1 is here.

Disclaimer: While the technology described in the story may come true, chances are they are my wild imagination and creativity. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Episode 2: Clean Khaki

“Sir, the items that you ordered online are here.”

“Thank you Mani. You can leave now.”

As Mani started leaving the room, Raji entered.

“What are all these new toys doing here? No doubt for your next vigilante program?”

“You said it!”

—— 00000 ——

Thiru, The commissioner of police of the Chennai city was furious. He was one of the good police men, yet the fact that one man has left the entire Tamil Nadu become chaos in one day made him angry. While he tries to believe that the White Knight is trying to do something for a better future, his interference with the law has gotten into his temper. He was personally amazed by the thought of how the head lights still burst out after 2 days of the initial chaos, but he still believed that it was the last of what he calls a ‘stunt’ that the so called White Knight will make! He has had an earful during the urgent meeting scheduled by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu a couple of days before. The statement that he made before the chaos begun, had came back to haunt him. The CM has ordered an elite team to grab the White Knight at any given first chance. He was part of that team too. Earlier that day, he went on to read the-white-knight.com for his next move. There wasn’t anything on it other than a few movie super hero posters, but he’s been involving the best hackers around India to crack into the website and isolate the man. He has had no luck so far. “Come on, guys – give me a bone here” he said to himself.

A whole week was gone and there was nothing the hackers could do to triangulate the so-called-super-hero. The update on the-white-knight.com earlier that day added fuel to the raging fire. When Thiru opened the page, he read the only line in between the super hero images.

“Corrupt Cops – Beware”

He immediately called for a meeting with the fellow police officers.

—— 00000 ——

The next morning, when Thiru woke up, he found a flash drive sitting beside his spectacles. Puzzled, he powered on his ‘Compaq’ and it took about 10 minutes to load his personal settings. He plugged in the flash drive and it had a lot of photos. A glance on the thumbnails gave him a good idea – those were the images of his fellow colleagues doing things that they’re supposed to catch people do. There was an odd-one-out – a Read Me.jpg. He opened the image and read out loud.

“I’m giving you one day to take action against these cops. Failing to do so, I’ll have to take matter into my own hands. Trust me, you’ll not like it!”

He immediately went to the website. The-white-knight.com was updated and Thiru didn’t like a bit of it. The update said “Corrupt Police list has been handed over to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai City. Will the police take action against the police? They have 24 hours.” A timer was running, showing less than 23 hours remaining. His head started to take a spin.

—— 00000 ——

Assistant commissioner Marimuthu surprised Thiru with an early morning salute.

“ACP Marimuthu – what are you doing here so early?”

“Sir, I saw the website – I wanted to know if my name or my cousin’s name is on the list.”

Thiru was taken aback! He managed to hide his surprise and asked him “Why, did you do something that you are not supposed to do?”

“Sir –”

“No need for an explanation, ACP. You can go – I’ll decide with the CM on what to do with the list. I’m sure whether or not your name is on the list you’ll know it by tomorrow at the max.”

“But, Sir –”

“That’s an order!”

ACP produced a flashing salute and left the place half hearted.

By now Thiru realized that atleast half of the city police will want to know if their name is on the list or not. He decided not to waste a single moment and took a drive to the CM’s house himself. He was infact, afraid that his driver might want to know if his name was on the list! There were about 30 calls on his mobile during the 25 minutes journey from his house to the CMs. Only one was from the CM and he missed the others.

—— 00000 ——

The finger print search on the flash drive came up empty. CM was in a dilemma whether to suspend all the 341 cops in the photo or not and a team was identifying them from the photo. Time was tickling away and the media was already on it.

“We are standing here at the corner of the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu’s home. It’s been crazy up here. Apparently, the white knight has collected a list of corrupt cops and sent it to the commissioner of police, Chennai city. We see that the commissioner is inside the CM’s house having a discussion. They have 24 hours time to take action against the listed people. It’s been over 4 hours now, and we are yet to see any results. We are trying our best to talk to one of the spokes person from the Chief Minister’s house. Stay tuned for more updates. This is Sachin with camera man Sourav, reporting for India-News.”

A set of lawyers came rushing from the CM’s house and they said “No Comments” even before a question was asked. The place was chaos.

—— 00000 ——

Inside almost all of the police stations in Chennai city, a group of cops had gathered and were watching the televisions’ live update.

“Do you think that b*****d would have captured me when I was getting the money?” “I think that stupid software guy who I locked for two days is coming back to haunt me!” “You know, I once hit a photographer for not having money. I think it’s him. My name would sure be on the list. I’m doomed!” “I never saw any flash lights or anyone infact, watching me when I got that money from that rowdy. My name would not be on the list for sure.” “Whoever he is, if my name is on that list, I will hunt him and I will kill him.”

—— 00000 ——

After about 16 hours, as if waiting for a verdict on a murder case – the result was out. Thiru personally appeared on the television and delivered the news. Camera flashes were flickering for any given second.

“I received a set of photos from the White Knight this morning which had a few police officers committing a crime. The scrutiny of the photos we received is being examined and at this point we cannot come to any conclusion on whether or not these people have infact, committed a crime as the photos claim. We do take this as a serious concern and we will take severe action against the people who are in the photo, if proven to be guilty. While we analyze the facts, we request people and fellow police officers to remain calm. The photos will not be disclosed to public and protection will be given to the people in the pictures as the white knight has threatened them. The White Knight’s action is still considered to be offensive and unlawful. He or She will be punished when captured for all the crime committed.”

Watching the news, Ram said “As expected.”

“What are you going to do to them?” asked Raji.

“Wait and see tomorrow. After all, the 24 hours is not yet finished.”

—— 00000 ——

It was dawn. The media and some interested people had been waiting for the-white-knight.com to be updated. Thiru was one of them. At 5 in the morning, when then timer reached 00:00:00, it was updated.

“Time’s up. As expected, the police consider the given evidence as not-enough to proceed. I have decided to act. Consider this as a warning, for the punishment would not be severe for your ignorance of my power. For all the corrupt cops – ‘You are being watched’. I don’t want the list to be increased by the end of the day. The list will be punished within the span of 24 hours. Watch out.”

—— 00000 ——

One of the corrupted cops was in a deep sleep when that happened. He heard a loud sound and woke up with heavy breathings. He saw his family was also disturbed by that sound and he asked them to stay inside the house and went on to open the door of his house. What he saw was unbelievable. His brand new 72,000 rupees Bajaj Pulsar had a hole in the side of the petrol tank and the petrol was rushing outside, making a small river towards his gate. While he watched that in horror, a beggar, who made a fire to escape the early morning chills because of last night’s rain, was just leaving. A still burning paper from the fire went flying like in the Final Destination movie and landed at the banks of the newly formed river. The police officer’s family, whose sleep was disturbed by the first sound, heard another sound – the sound of 72,000 rupees burning.

—— 00000 ——

The whole city was peaceful except for the corrupt officers’ mind. The media went on to report none of the incidents happened as The White Knight threatened and people spent a peaceful day except for a few accidents.

—— 00000 ——

Another corrupt officer, who had been afraid to go out of the house that whole day, waited for a miracle to save his precious RX100 after he heard what had happened to the nearby police officer Sivamani’s Pulsar. It was almost 7 in the night and he needed a break. He went inside and switched on his hall lights. With a flash, his house electricity short circuited and the burnt smell of his Whirlpool refrigerator made him realize that he’d been punished.

—— 00000 ——

At 9:30 in the night, the-white-knight.com was updated.

“The list had been punished – ofcourse, it wasn’t serious. Now they know the power of me and I strongly suggest them passing the information to their fellow cops for what awaits them next, if they were to go on a different path. To the media, I know you didn’t get what you wanted. But, I wanted this just to be a warning, so the punishment was discreet. Next time when they dare try again, I’ll be sure to let you know the evidence and their punishment. For now, this photo of the burning Pulsar is evidence that one of the corrupt cops had been punished.”

And it showed the lone Sivamani’s Pulsar on fire. Thiru was reading the update and he knew a few of the cops who were on the list were punished. He recollected ACP Marimuthu being on the list, and wasn’t sure if he was punished. Curious, he placed a call to him and almost thought he’d not answer, after 11th ring, he answered.

“Hello”

“ACP, I know you were on the list. Were you punished by The White Knight? Would you like to make a formal compliant?”

“No sir, I was not punished. I think you overlooked!” he said, looking at the engine burst Scorpio.

—— 00000 ——

“How did you punish them?” asked Raji.

“I damaged one of their properties.”

“First, tell me how did you take pictures of them?”

“If I tell you, you’ll be an accomplice to my crime.”

“I am an accomplice. Now, tell me!”

“Remember the toys?”

“What, those cameras you bought online?”

“Yep, I placed them discreetly at places where I thought crimes would happen, including the police stations, using the help of a couple of drones.”

“Drones? I never saw a drone in that list of toys!”

“I made that personally a month back. During this one week, I’ve been moving that drone from place to place planting the hidden cameras. I even have one in the commissioner’s office.”

“I’ll be damned! So, how did you isolate the corrupt people within a day and damaged their property?”

“Well, I didn’t. During this one week, I’d seen a list of people who couldn’t keep their hands clean at all. So, I started making a note of them and planted a surprise for them on the 4th day. After my announcement, about 100 people kept their hands clean, so they were sparred. The other 341 received the surprise.”

“So, everything went according to the plan?”

“Not really. One of the corrupted cops – Sivamani his name, was on my list. My thought was to make a hole in his petrol tank using one of my drones, but things went south when a beggar started a fire nearby. Sivamani was standing somewhat near the bike when the explosion happened. It was unexpected, but the good thing is he got out alive with a few burns.”

“What? You nearly killed a cop?”

“Raji, I know the risk. Sometime fate intervenes. It wasn’t my intention that he get what he got.”

“You need to be more careful with your planning.”

“I will from now on, ma’am. I could use an extra hand though!” he said.

“Alright, since you begged for it, I’ll join” she said with a naughty smile on her face.

—To be Continued.