Heaven’s Keep

Absorbing fast paced novel by William Kent Krueger in “Heaven’s Keep”

Cork O’Connor’s wife takes a plane and disappears completely from sight. He is a family man and grieves with his son and daughters deeply. But after six months or so, he starts getting some news or other which leads him to believe that there is something more murky than an accident in this case.

As Cork delves deeply into the mystery with his newly acquired friend Parmer he finds a lot of unconnected dots which still does not lead to his wife’s disappearance. Plus the story has a lot of Indian influence with the characters coming from one or two of those Indian tribes.

There is lot of twists and turns in the story during the middle part of the novel, which sets the adrenaline rushing. His son gets a vision about the disappearance of his mother and one other wizened old Indian also gets a vision, but the interpretation is different and baffles them.

There is a lot of suspense towards the end with more bodies, a love interest, corporate involvement in Indian reservations, fraud, near death experience for Cork and Parmer, desperation and injustice and finally redemption. The narration by William Kent Krueger is quite good as it keeps the reader interested. Goodreads 5/5

Suriname

Interesting documentary on Suriname, the country in the north coast of South America.

The documentary captures the lives of three individuals who are making a difference in Suriname in their own ways. Fabian is a photographer whose mission it is to photograph the beauty and the culture of Suriname and present it to the world.

He goes to various places in a boat and understands the people’s lives and their unique traditions and brings them to life with his camera. Rosanne is a doctor and her mission is to bring health care to the remotest part of Suriname. She is called as the flying doctor, because invariably she has to fly in a small plane provided by her NGO to bring supplies and medical care to the distant villages which do not have a medical facility like a clinic or a hospital.

Each small village has a trained nurse to take care of small medical ailments, but when there is an emergency, she is called upon to intervene and then she has to rush with her airplane and decide what is to be done for such patients. Invariably they are airlifted and taken to a hospital in the capital Paramaribo.

Monique has an interest in protecting the sloth bears who are the gentlest creatures on the earth and there are plenty of sloth bears in the country, which are rescued by her and relocated back to the forest. She has been doing this for 10 years and more and now her life revolves around this effort. She is passionate about wildlife and its protection.

Its an interesting documentary with a mix of narration and dialogues with plenty of videos in between. You can watch this documentary here

Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels

Award winning British black comedy crime fiction movie “Lock, Stock and two Smoking Barrels” (1998), directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Jason Statham, Nick Moran, Jason Flemying, Dexter Fletcher, Vinnie Jones among others.

Its a complicated story involving three to four strands all colluding into each other. Jason Statham and his three friends, all small time criminals are looking to hit it big by pooling together 100,000 pounds and depending upon card smart player Eddie (Nick Moran) to pull it off.

On the card table, the game is rigged and Eddie ends up owing 500,000 pounds to Harry (P.H. Moriarty) and his henchman Barry, the Baptist (Lenny McClean) and Big Chris (Vinnie Jones).

Harry himself is interested in two antique guns that is probably going to auction at a good price. He asks Barry to hire two small time thieves Gary and Dean to steal the guns from a house. They bungle and steal more than two guns and sell of the wrong guns to somebody else.

Eddie discovers that his neighbours are into drugs big time and they have a big stash of drugs and money in their house. They are going to get another consignment soon. To solve their debt problem they figure to steal from the neighbours and sell it to a drug dealer. Incidentally, the drug dealer is the same person from whom the neighbours are snitching the goods.

Confusion worse confounded as everybody get mixed up and lot of guys get killed. Its virtually the same plot that Indian producers of Phir Hera Pheri used for their movie, 90% similar with some local twists added for fun. Guy Ritchie’s debut movie hits it big time with its trade mark mix of violence, profanity, sex etc. IMDB 5/10

Picture taken from the internet for representational purpose only not with an intention to violation of copyright

16 Vayathinile

Award winning Tamil film “16 Vayathinile” (At Age 16), directed by Bharatirajaa and starring Kamal Hassan, Sridevi, Rajnikanth among others.

It is the debut film of Bharatirajaa who has acquired legendary status in film making in India. Kamal Hassan, Sridevi and Rajnikanth are cult stars in India and this is probably their earliest ever forays into films. Kamal Hassan & Sridevi of course have been acting as child starts since forever.

Its an unusual and bold theme of the trials and tribulations and aspirations of a young girl who is the only one to pass secondary school exam in her village. Hers is an old time village of orthodoxy and superstitions and jealousness.

Chappani (Kamal Hassan) is a young lame boy helping out her mother in daily chores. He is not educated and is a simpleton. He is made fun of by others in the village. He does random jobs and gets some small change here and there.

Into the village comes a vet doctor who eyes Mayil (Sridevi) lasciviously and wants to exploit her. She on the other hand dreams of marrying him and moving on to the city. He tries to rape her. Frustrated and dejected she returns to her home and her mother dies in between leaving her still more sad.

In all this endeavours only Chappani was devotedly attached to her. Slowly she starts liking this character and gives him respect. She calls him by real name and asks him to respect himself. This is golden because a subtle way of lifting the downtrodden.

A village goon Rajnikanth creates trouble for them but Chappani deals with him the only way possible. The slow metamorphosis in the character of Sridevi from a bubbly easy go person to a serious female is amazing and potrayed beautifully by Sridevi. Kamal Hassan has excelled in his role of the lame speech affected village bumpkin in a magnificient manner only he can do. Rajnikanth is good as the villain which is an unusual role for him.

This film has acquired cult status mainly for the deft treatment of a difficult subject by Bharatirajaa and some superb acting by Kamal Hassan and Sridevi. IMDB 7/10

Picture taken from the internet for representational purpose only not with an intention to violation of copyright

Crossfire

Fast paced crime thriller from Dick Francis “Crossfire” involving his famous topic — horse racing.

Tom Forsythe returns from Afghanistan minus one leg, being wounded in the war. He returns to his mom’s place and its myriad horse racing issues. Her mom is being blackmailed by somebody to part with 2000 pounds every week else something will go wrong.

His mom and stepfather are terrified of going to jail and damage to her reputation. She is one of the most renowned horse trainers in the country. Tom sets about finding the truth of the matter and what reveals is murky dealings of tax fraud, investment fraud, murder, deception, scam et al.

Tom deals with his own kidnapping in a deft manner bringing all his soldier training to the fore. One thing leads to another and what comes out in the end is greed and that too by near and dear ones. Dick Francis has added quite a bit of twists and turns to make the story interesting. His narration, as usual, is stupendous. Goodreads 5/5

On Borrowed Time

A fast paced novel about a writer losing his memory and then figuring out what went wrong in “On Borrowed Time” by David Rosenfelt.

Richard Kilmer has a happy go time with his girlfriend Jen whom he proposes to marry. He has an accident and when he regains consciousness, it appears that there is no body like Jen in the world.

Desperate to find solutions, he writes his own experience and goes through myriad experiences with a lot of people including a psychiatrist Kerber. He enlists the help of his friends to find the truth.

A biotech company is experimenting with a memory drug as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease and there are suspicious brain surgeries being performed on people willing to try out the drug and those not willing.

In the end there are too much of twists and turns like a topsy turvy part in the novel. Goodreads 3/5

12.38 kms

12.38 kms in rolling hills of Borivli National Park, a forest within the city limits of Mumbai. Took in all the hills except the last one of about 500 metres which is a beast. No rains so humidity at its maximum in the forest. Have a great Sunday folks.

Mean Streets

Avant garde American crime film “Mean Streets” (1973), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Harvey Keitel, Robert de Niro, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus among others.

Its only the second of his full length feature film directed by Martin Scorsese, first one being “Who’s that Knocking on my Door” (1967). Its a kind of semi autobiographical as he portrays all that he has been watching on the streets of America.

Its also Robert de Niro’s first movie with Scorsese, so the later characters of de Niro in films like Taxi Driver, Raging Bull got somewhat developed from this movie. Robert de Niro (Johnny) is a brash youngster who does no work and takes loan from one and all.

Harvey Keitel (Charlie) is his best friend and supports him thick and thin. Charlie is also in love with Johnny’s cousin Theresa (Amy Robinson) who has epilepsy. Charlie wants to set up his own restaurant with his uncle’s help but his uncle asks him to dump both Johnny and Theresa.

Charlie is a devout Christian yet at the same time involved in his uncle’s illegal businesses. Harvey Keitel’s second movie with Scorsese carries on the characterization from the first 1967 movie “Who’s That knocking on my Door”.

Mean Streets is a pulsating, energy driven movie throbbing with the life of the ugly kind to be found in such places. There is tension & desperation in the air as Charlie tries to sort out his friend, care for his girl friend and yet be normal. Harvey Keitel has acted brilliantly for his role in the movie while de Niro debuts with that angst of an angry youth which is fine tuned in his later movies.

Scorsese has carried further his experimentation which he started from his 1967 movie into this film, combining Italian opera music with the chaos, hustle & bustle of Little Italy and perfecting his stylisation. IMDB 6/10

Picture taken from the internet for representational purpose only not with an intention to violation of copyright

True Evil

Deadly crime fiction thriller from Greg Iles “True Evil”

When FBI agent Alex Morse’s sister Grace lay dying and confesses to her that she might have been murdered, Alex did not realise the true ramifications of her last words. Yet when she started digging into it, she convers a diabolical plot connived by a lawyer and a doctor to kill people by inducing cancer into it. 

Outlandish as it may sound, that is what happens in “True Evil” by Greg Iles. The lawyer Andrew Rusk and the Dr. Tarver combine to find victims, being wealthy people who want to get out of their marriage without paying any hefty divorce settlement and yet also getting custody of their children.

Dr. Chris Sheperd is next in line as his wife Thora is apparently having an affair with another doctor and wants him out. Chris is Thora’s second husband and her first husband dies leaving her with millions. Alex contacts Chris and he despite being a sceptic at the beginning comes around to her theory. Slowly the plot unravels. Alex has a tough time with her bosses at FBI as she is conducting this investigation without their knowledge and consent. Dr. Sheperd is a likeable character, dad to his step son who adores him and with him he plays and coaches football.

Dr. Tarver has a past which is mysterious. He has a laboratory where he conducts experiments on primates. He also goes around with deadly snakes which are poisonous and venomous. Andrew Rusk has a contingency plan to intimate the FBI in case anything happens to him. 

Superb fast paced action thriller from Greg Iles, keeps the reader glued to the complex crime fiction until the end. There are several twists and turns and surprises which will keep the reader engaged. Greg Iles’s narration is very good. Goodreads 5/5

Nayakan

Award winning Tamil movie “Nayakan” (1989), directed by Mani Ratnam and starring Kamal Hassan, Saranya, Karthika, Nassar among others.

Its loosely based on the gangster Varadarajan Mudaliar life back in the 70s. He ruled the roost for many years in the 50s to 70s as an underworld don involved in all kind of illegal activities. Varada became popular amongst the poor Tamil community of Dharavi and became sort of dispenser of instant justice.

The movie is somewhat based on his life but many elements are dramatized. The production values are mostly inspired by Godfather series of the 70s.

Kamal Hassan as the don has acted brilliantly for which he won the National best actor award. Lot of Marlon Brando mannerisms have been copied by Kamal Hasssan and few scenes which were in Godfather — I has been taken verbatim by Mani Ratnam in this film. I guess all gangster movies post Godfather have been inspired by Godfather.

The cinematography and art direction are equally superb. Mani Ratnam’s direction is masterful taut and coupled with an inspired script & dialogues written by himself, the movie is a cult classic. Ilayarajaa has infused folk elements into the music, for which he is known for.

Of the other actors, Karthika has done a good role and so has Nassar. The story need not be told as its a classic case of a Robinhood kind of character which is Nayakan. IMDB 8/10

Picture taken from the internet for representational purpose only not with an intention to violation of copyright

Inside Monaco

A three part series on Monaco — the playground of the rich on youtube.

Monaco is a small principality adjacent to France and its a hot happening place for the rich. There is the formula 1 race there of course which is the most important event of the year, but there are other events as well such as the Yatch Regatta, Dance Ballet, the annual foundation day of Monaco, awards nites, auctions et al — all for the rich to mingle and meet and do business.

There are only about 8000 odd citizens of Monaco called as Monegasques and its extremely difficult to become a citizen. Either you should inherit it from your parent who is or was a Monegasque or marry into a Monegasque. Even after marriage, one has to wait 10 years of continuous marriage to be even considered worth to apply for a citizenship.

There are residents of course, and all of them are either billionaires or millionaires. They come to stay in Monaco because there is no tax on your income, but every product attracts VAT and house purchases attract stamp duty, which is the main source of revenue for the govt. Workers in hotels etc. normally cross over from France to come daily to Monaco to work. The wages in Monaco are much higher than those in France.

The documentary is quite good, it has a narration as well as interviews with many people including with Prince Albert II, the ruling prince, who is the son of late Grace Kelly. Quite rare for a head of a state to speak so freely and he seems to be quite a warm person with a hearty laugh.

8.03 kms

8.03 kms for the morning, rained overnight but no rains during the run. Have a great day folks.

A Walk to Beautiful

“A Walk to Beautiful”, a moving touching award winning documentary on the problems faced by rural women in Ethiopia due to a medical condition known as “obstetrics fistula” following a failed childbirth.

These women are married off at a very young age of 10 to 12 and when they get pregnant at such young age or later, and the miscarriage happens, they sometimes get a medical condition, which is the leak of the urine or the feces. Sometimes it one, and sometimes it is both.

Then what happens is that the women’s lives are shattered, because they cannot go anywhere, they are smelling and leaking and they become ostracised in the society. They are made to live separately away from the family, in a separate shed, a lonely life.

The documentary tells the story of some women who travel all the way to Addis Ababa, to get treated in a Fistula Hospital there. It is only when they reach the hospital that the women realise that they are not the only one with that condition. The bonding takes place, the women are treated free, taken care of, surgery takes place and they begin a completely new life.

It is quite a heart rending documentary to know that so much suffering takes place amongst women folk in the world. There are apparently more than 5 million women with the fistula condition all over the world.

Very nicely made documentary, tells the story from the point of view of the women concerned with sympathetic and understanding doctors and nurses. The documentary got an Emmy award.

City of the future

Daily writing prompt

How would you design the city of the future?

View all responses

A city where everything will be available in a 5kms radius from work place to vegetables to banks, post office, ATM, malls, playgrounds, running parks, cycling lanes. Where emphasis is on pedestrian traffic at the expense of motorised traffic. Where people can walk comfortably without fear of being run over by a dangerous vehicle and constantly having to look left, right and centre to check whether any traffic is coming.

favorite time

Daily writing prompt

What’s your favorite time of day?

View all responses

Morning, undoubtedly, when i have time for myself, for reading, for going out for a run, a stroll to buy the milk leisurely, to have a nice strong cup of coffee and do my workouts, read the newspapers.