Millennium Flashback Challenge - Steig Larsson

A competition that Steig Larsson fans should lap up!

Terms & Conditions for the #MillenniumFlashback Challenge:

 All the participants should either be fan on Hachette India Facebook page OR follow Hachette India’s Twitter handle @HachetteIndia.

 Participants should be Indian residents.

 Participants can participate only on Twitter or on Facebook. Multiple entries on both Facebook and

Twitter from the same participant will not be accepted.

 The contest will start on 24th August, 2015 at 01:00 pm and end on 25th August, 2015 at 03:00 pm. No late entries will be accepted.

 Participants will be eligible for the winning, only if they correctly answer all 6 questions on Twitter or all 3 questions on Facebook by 25th August, 2015, 03:00 pm.

 Participants must include #MillenniumFlashback in their responses.

 The entries may be screened for defamatory content/language.

 Hachette India employees and its partners’ employees are eligible to participate in the contest but
will not be considered for the prizes.

 Hachette India reserves the right for last minute cancellation and change in terms and conditions.

 Any disputes arising from this contest are subject to jurisdiction in Delhi.

 Winners will be determined by the management of Hachette India. The decision of the management will be final and no queries will be entertained in this regard.

Book Review - After The Crash

After The Crash falls under the 'unputdownable' category. For someone who is not very fond of non-fiction, I finished the book, reading intermittently in three days. It was owing to the suspense and how Michel Bussi, the author has hung it throughout. Comparing him to Steig Larsson is surely not an exaggeration. 

The story line is simple. A plane travelling from Istanbul to Paris crashes. All passengers are killed except for a three month old baby. Two families, one filthy rich, another modest claim that the girl is their grand daughter. The case is heard by a judge who awards the child's custody to the fisherman family who lived away from Paris by the seaside. 

However the investigation is then handed over to a private detective Credule Grand-Duc, who has 18 years (the crash happened in 1980) to prove whether the girl is Lyse-Rose or Emilie, The 100 page summary of the detective forms the bulk of the novel. As the mystery deepens regarding the identity we see family members, particularly two grandmothers in both families, Marc the love interest of the girl in question and others come into picture,

There in the pages of Grand Duc's diary is explained how all modes of investigation including DNA analysis was carried, how the clues linked, how new characters came into picture to contribute to the search yet in the end was left inconclusive, Meanwhile murders occurred, doubts on a relation which could be termed incestuous if the identity of the girl was to be Emilie, and a lot of past (and earth from crash site) is dug up.

Michel Bussi has been a master storyteller with no loose ends in the novel. He has tied the ends well. An important aspect is that minimum characters in the story make for a convenient read. Each chapter only increases the curiosity. The novel set in Paris largely, focuses on the plot and does to digress too much into background.

Readers of suspense and thrillers will perhaps feel that while a few sub plots are predictable, the timely injunction of new characters and sub plots albeit not hinging on the main plot keeps the suspense going stronger. At one point one might feel that the novel is written for a movie, or rather the narration brings visuals easily. And such is the power of the book,

While there often is a risk in such books to have an ending that is outlandish or so disconnected that the reader gets put off, After The Crash has successfully avoided such a scenario. In the revealing of the identity of the girl, dots created earlier in the book has been connected, and connected well.

Do read the book. It is paced ideally and the plot is clutter free. I would recommend it.

Link: http://www.flipkart.com/after-crash-english/p/itme9gcsdbkmsyra?q=After+the+Crash+%28English%29&as=on&as-show=on&otracker=start&as-pos=p_1_after+the+crash&pid=9781474602044 

Indian Railways - an Ode

The joy of travel is meant to be cherished

An experience, it should be fostered & nourished

But the thought of such fun instantly vanishes

If the journey is to be made by Indian Railways

The stations usually chaotic and crammed

Desolate at nights, no men uniformed & armed

One grapples to find a clean place to sit on 

Paan spit designs all the corners adorn

The sight of the tracks be best avoided

Nothing worthy though could be traded

Not a T3 or T2 presenting visual delight

Remember you’re taking train not a flight

If your seat is by the end of the bogeys

You’ll be in for untold miseries

For the toilet stench shall emanate right there

Not to vomit if eaten well, you should take care

The prices of food products often surprising

Sold by contractors with MRP surpassing

Sky rocketing inflation over past years in ‘meals’

Quality long back had tumbled down the hills

  

The beggars frequent & one might not mind

Chain snatchers at stations not so kind

Certainly one is ensured of sleepless nights

For the peril of theft and the bed bug bites

The vagaries aren’t limited to the SL class

Condition in AC bogies also crass

Cockroaches, rats’ now regular co-passengers

Duly filled though records of pest controllers

The bed linen creates doubting Thomases

If they ever, how and who really washes

The temperature freezes or causes sweating

Attendant asking ‘baksheesh’ at the end irritating

The fourth largest railways in the world

Record number of employees in its fold

A lifeline that millions of commoners depend on

Is in tatters and in a state of dilapidation

Political & bureaucratic lackadaisical attitude

Inflicting miseries on people in multitude

The gargantuan system called Indian railways

In dire need to amend its lopsided ways.

Sleeping in a Seminar

Pic source: blog.scriptosphere.com

 It began with the function formal,
In a room bustling with energy.
Speakers’ enthusiasm akin to grand mal,
Trying best to strike a synergy.

In no time the lights went off,
Monotonous drone now pitch high.
Staying in the room began getting tough,
Yet another ‘seminar’, I heaved a sigh.

Head started swaying, eyelids drooping,
Air conditioning coming to aid.
To varied places minds journey now starting,
No offense to speaker all done and said.

Labyrinth of thought in quasi-sleep, created a picturesque view,
I woke up only when the slide read the sweet words, ‘thank you’.