Technologies to beat Fuel Price Hikes

Picture was picked up from this site

The government of India heaved a sigh at last as the Lokpal crisis came to an end. But Anna Hazare and his team were not done yet. Team Anna had often been blamed of being too myopic and focusing only on corruption to the exclusion of all other issues facing the country. So this time team Anna decided to taken on the issue of fuel price hike. Some scientists from Fiat, India had joined Anna’s team this time and they were working on a solution. Having lost face on the Lok Pal issue, the government was eager to win this round. So they got their act together and decided to hire consultants from the land of Laputa to come up with a better solution. The country was soon greeted by the spectacle of a castle in the air and 10 scientists  in white suits, spectacles and heads overflowing with hair beamed down.

The Laputan scientists got down to the task at once. They were very meticulous and task focused. They wanted to take a holistic approach and went about meeting historians, sociologists, economists, religious leaders and eminent people from various other fields. Anna’s Fiat engineers on the other hand stuck to their lab and went about their mundane day to day business. Soon two months passed. The government’s Laputan engineers were out with an impressive looking report. The report was too large to be reproduced here. So a brief summary of the ten alternatives suggested by them is presented below.

Horse power engine – Horses were mankind’s first means of transport and till 100 years back had been one of the most important means of transport. There is no reason why horses cannot once again come to man’s aid. We of course are not suggesting a return to the days of horse drawn carriages. Rather we have designed special treadmills on which horses will run day and night to produce energy which will be stored on cells that will be used to power automobiles.

Virtual reality – 'If Mohammed can not go to the mountain, the mountain has to come to Mohammed.' If people cannot go to places, the places have to come to people. We have designed virtual reality software that will bring places to people in the comfort of their homes, making it unnecessary for people to go to places, expending valuable fuel.

Mouse power engine – No true scientist would fail to acknowledge the contribution of mice to the advancements in the field of medical science. Mice can also be the salvation from the fuel hike crisis as well. We have designed special wheels with mice inside them. The mice will keep running in circles within the wheel, getting nowhere whereas the car will go places. Mice breed so fast that there will never be any shortages or price hikes.

Beggar's wish Engine – The ancients have said “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” The ancients apparently had technology to transform beggars’ wishes into horses. We are trying to look through ancient texts to unravel this technology. We are hopeful that we will be able to convert beggar’s wishes into cans of fuel. India has so many beggars that you will soon overtake Gulf countries as world’s leading producer of fuel.

Dishonesty Repulsion Engine – This is based on the magnetic principle that opposite poles repels each other. We have tried to isolate a substance that gets repelled by dishonesty. This will be placed inside the core of the engine. The minute a person sits inside the car, the engine will push on ahead by the power of repulsion. Of course this technology might not generate sufficient power for people who are not dishonest enough. But then our surveys indicate the ones having maximum transport needs are politicians and business men. We are sure they will have no challenges using this technology.

Gossip engine – One of the principles to generate power is to confine a fast expanding material to a small space. These opposing forces will generate energy to power automobiles. And what spreads faster than rumors. We are planning to capture rumors and confine it inside the engine. Gossip is a clean renewable natural resource in this country that will not run out in the next 10 centuries to come. So your energy needs will be secured for long time.

Outsourced commutation – India has benefited a lot from outsourcing. It is time India itself does some outsourcing. All offices can outsource the commutation to work to the sub Saharan countries. These countries have efficient runners who can cover the 10-15 Km on foot itself that company employees travel to work on a daily basis. Moreover they can do it in half the time that cars take in the roads crowded with traffic.

Genetic engine – Genetic technology has been taking leaps and bounds. It is time genetics combines with mechanics. We have come up with a prototype of a live car that can run on food instead of fuel. We have come up with an innovative solution for protecion from the rising food prices as well. In the day time the car will run like cars normally do. In the night, it will go around the streets scavenging dustbins for leftover food and catching pests such as mice and cockroaches for food. So the car serves a dual purpose as pest eradicator as well.

Faith engine – People from times immemorial have known about the power of faith.This concept is based on the power of mind over matter. The rise in fuel prices is not in the external world but within our minds. Rise of prices is not a property of fuel in itself but is in the perception of the observer. So if you breath deep and stop observing the fuel prices, then the fuel prices will stop rising.

Reverse engine – We did a detailed study of the transport patterns. Most of the people come back to the same place they started in the morning at the end of the day. So the net displacement is zero. Hence by the law of conservation of energy net energy spent should also be zero. We are using this principle to design an engine that will give back the energy spent in going to a place when you are returning back. This energy can be used for next day’s travel and so one is assured of lifelong supply of fuel unless one decided not to return home.

Anna ji’s team of scientists was also ready. But their report looked to be no match for that of Laputans. It was a much smaller report with just one sheet with just a single recommendation on it.

Diesel multi jet engine – This is a technology which enables the use of the much more energy efficient and inexpensive diesel instead of petrol.With more control over the combustion process the result is a smoother, quieter drive with surprisingly low emissions and high fuel economy. The advanced turbochargers provide most of the torque at low engine speeds, making it a pleasure to drive.

Bombay Duck is a fish - Review

My first thought on picking up a book called ‘Bombay Duck is a Fish’ was curiosity on why a fish would be called a duck. So I looked it up on Wikipedia. Apparently this fish, native to the waters near Mumbai used to be processed, dried and transported to East Bengal on the Bombay Mail (Bombay Dak) train during British times. The fish gave its odor to the train popularizing the term ‘you smell like Bombay Duck’ (Dak corrupted) and in return the train gave the fish its name and so the fish came to be called Bombay duck. So what has this got to do with a story on Bollywood? Well, isn’t Bollywood an illusory world of glitz and glamour where things are not what they seem? A world where what seems a duck may be a fish in reality! A world where on screen fantasy is a façade behind which lurks a dark world filled with politics, backstabbing and debauchery. This book explores the journey of a small town girl who comes to India’s tinsel town with a dream.

Neki Brar, the protagonist of this book is a MBA from a middle class family in Amristsar who ditches a cushy corporate job offer in Delhi choosing instead to come to Mumbai in pursuit of her dream. Many stories have been told about men and women with dreams of becoming actors. The story of someone wanting to become a film maker however comes as a breath of fresh air. It takes the reader inside the engine of a movie to explore the cogs that make the movie work. It all looks so simple on the screen and it is often so easy for spectators to watch the movie and criticize. But a movie is not just about hero, heroine and story. There are so many other things to coordinate – the songs, the music, the backdrop, the camerawork, the dances, the supporting cast, the costumes, etc! The director and her team of around half a dozen assistants have to combine all these elements together and provide a seamless viewing experience to the spectators. Neki starts her career as the junior most member of this team. This book provided a wellspring of information on all the efforts that take place behind the screen. The fact that the author Kanika Dillon herself has been through this path lends an air of authenticity to the narrative.

One must say this book definitely has its heart in its right place. Neki comes across as a genuine person, someone who we come across in our day to day life. One can definitely relate to her aspirations and feelings. In some ways she reminded me of the female leads in the English movie ‘Devil wears Prada’ and the Hindi movie ‘Fashion’. However I did not find Neki as endearing as the other two. Probably Neki’s stoic cynicism was infectious making me experience a sense of detachment from her travails. Also I feel the story moves on flat terrain like a toy train rather than like a roller coaster without any elements of surprises, shocks and euphoria. There is always a sense of impending doom and the victories seemed minor and kind of Phyric.

As far as the characters go, Neki’s character was definitely quite well etched. There are quite a few other interesting characters too – the other assistant directors, her room mates, the second hero Ranvir Khanna for instance. But most of them seem mere shadows hardly making an impact. I could hardly remember anything about any of them at the end of the book. The only character who left a lasting impression on me was Aslam the line producer, a shrewd manipulator with a dirty sense of humor.

The narrative is in first person, some of it excerpts from her diary and some reflections on her past as she sits on the terrace contemplating suicide. But somehow the diary entries and memories are not well demarcated and kind of flow into each other. Giving her diary a name ‘Nano’ was a cute feminine touch. The narrative has quite a bit of sarcastic humor. But I felt it was half hearted and there is continuous vacillation between trying to win the reader’s sympathy and being sarcastic. Both these positions kind of neutralize each other. But there are lots of portions that do give a good laugh. It is also interesting how she keeps introducing some piece of trivia and relating it to the events that are happening. She also tries connecting the events with her mother’s diet tips, her father’s favorite book 'Sidhartha' by Herman Hesse and Freudian theories. Whereas this works handsomely in some places, it seems artificial, contrived and out of place in others. One of the things I really love in the narrative are the letters to her mother in which she twists the facts and gives a sweet sugar coated version of the happenings in her life.

Overall I give thumbs up to this book. Kanika is a new voice in Indian literature with an honest story. This book might not win any literary awards or be a mass entertainer like ‘5 point someone’. But she still definitely manages to holds her own. The reader would definitively get value for his 195 Rs and 6-7 hours.

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Ender series (Bean Saga) Review

“There’s nothing more pure and cruel as a child” says Jet Black in the cult classic anime Cowboy Bebop. This might seem quite paradoxical and totally contrary to our opinion of children as the paragons of all human virtue. But if we think of it, it actually makes sense. Innocence and lack of guile, which are the key virtues of a child, also gives the child immense power to commit acts of terrible cruelty without a hint of hesitance or remorse. In real life, probably we do not come across these instances so much because children are too weak and their actions tend to be restricted by adults. But a closer observation of their behavior with insects and smaller animals will probably bring out the point. Two classic works of literature nicely illustrate this point. One is ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding and the other is ‘Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck, both the Nobel Laureate authors. “Lord of the Flies” is a story of children marooned on an island without any adults to control their behavior and how they transform into monsters. “Of Mice and Men” is a story of Lenny, a giant of a man with a childlike mind. In his childlike state, he does not understand his own strength and in attempting to show affection, ends up strangling small animals and finally ends up killing a pretty woman who tries to flirt with him. Coming to real life, we have heard of the Japanese soldiers of World War 2 throwing up Filipino babies in the air and cruelly catching them on their bayonets without the slightest of feelings. On the other hand, we also hear from people interacting with Japanese people of their childlike innocence and simplicity. Anyone sees some pattern? The novel “Ender’s Game” and 'Ender’s Shadow' series that follows is entirely built on this premise of children’s ability for ruthlessness.

The books are set in the near future, unlike most science fiction novels that are set in distant future. The world is expecting an attack from Aliens and they need to be stopped before they destroy the human race. So an elite military force of specially handpicked child prodigies is being trained to combat the aliens. Since modern warfare has very little need for physical contact, the children's diminutive size is no constraint and it is their ability for strategizing and ruthlessness in decision making that is the key. The overall story structure is similar to Harry Potter in some ways. Replace Harry Potter with Ender Wiggins, magic with technology, Dumbledore with Colonel Graf, Quidditch with the practice battles at battle school, Voldemort with Aliens. And presto! We have Ender’s Game. Well! Not entirely. Though the protagonists in Ender’s Game are children and it moves on like a school story, it is definitely not a children’s book. For one Harry Potter would be a hollow façade next to the complexity of Ender Wiggin’s character. Overall Orson Scot Card tries to give much more insight into human psychology in his story. Also the strategies employed by Ender in battle school definitely hold a much higher intellectual appeal. Harry Potter is more of courage and fortune whereas Ender Wiggins is more of brains and strategy.

There are 11 books in this series so far. But actually there are two series in these 11 books and not one. One series starting with ‘Speaker for the dead’ follows the life of Ender as an adult. This series is very interesting and we get introduced to interesting alien life . The question of ethics, religion and social values are explored in depth. But the true successor to the 'Ender’s Game' would be the Bean saga. The Bean saga emphasizes on the elements that made 'Ender’s Game' a success whereas the main Ender series goes off on a tangential trajectory. Since the author had already sent Ender on a different track, he brings in Bean, a minor character in 'Ender’s Game' to the limelight in the book ‘Ender’s Shadow’ and carries on in ‘Shadow of the Hegemon’ and ‘Shadow Puppets’. Though the book is titled ‘Ender’s Shadow’, Bean definitely has his own unique personality distinct from Ender and is as fascinating as Ender. In fact I found the book 'Ender’s shadow' much more interesting in terms of strategic and psychological elements. Here my focus is on 'Ender’s Game' and the 'Bean saga' as a series. I will take up the 'Speaker for the dead' arc in a separate review.

The distinguishing characteristics of this series are the pace of the narrative and the elements of psychological and military strategy. Typically science fiction is weighed down by the enormity of the scope it spans and so doesn’t move at the pace a typical thriller moves. This series takes advantage of it being set in the near future to move at a neck breaking speed. Once you get past the first chapter, a book in this series just cannot be put down till you reach the last page. But then if pace is all one needs, then one can stick to thrillers. The real high point of this book are the strategies. The strategies used by Ender and Bean in the practice battles and by Bean and Achilles, the main antagonist to survive on the street are just mind blowing. Also many of the psychological strategies that Bean uses on the street are things we can relate to and probably even use in our daily life at work and home to establish dominion or notice when someone is trying to establish dominion in an seemingly innocuous way. Let me just give a simple example. If a leader of your group singles you out in his treatment compared to the rest, it might be that he is trying to isolate you and alienate you from the rest of the group before he tries to eliminate you as he considers you as threat to his leadership.

Though Orson Scott Card writes amazing stuff, he still has a long way to go before he can catch up with the likes of Isaac Asimov and Frank Herbert. I would say he comes nearer there is his ‘Homecoming’ series than in the ‘Ender’ series, though ‘Homecoming’ did not become as popular as ‘Ender’. Let me quickly run through some of the areas of weakness I found in this series. While Card does an amazing job in developing the character of the hero, he does not give sufficient attention to the support characters. One might have liked to know more about Alai, Colonel Graf and Petra.

In the Ender’s Game, one seemed to get a feeling of an unrelated story running parallel to the main story. The story of how Peter and Valentine, Ender’s brother and sister manipulated public opinion on online forums to gain influence in world politics, was indeed highly fascinating. However it did not relate to the main story line except for the fact that they were Ender’s siblings. Scott again tries to use Peter in the later Bean stories. But Peter seems much more benevolent compared to what he was portrayed as in the Ender’s Game giving a feeling of inconsistency.

The later books of the Bean saga move in a world close to our current world. His portrayal of geo politics seems a bit careless and not too well researched as compared to say a Fredric Forsyth or a Jeffrey Archer. That is the problem when you start writing about the real world. Research becomes very important as people begin to compare the details in your story with the real details. Also people are emotionally attached to places and events and can take things to heart. For instance I was not too happy with his portrayal of India vis-à-vis China and Pakistan.

Overall I would say this book is definitely a must read for any science fiction/fantasy enthusiast. However this is one of those books that need not be confined to the niche audience. Even the general reader can enjoy this book if he were to permit a slight suspension of belief. A good first series for a new initiate into the world of science fiction before moving on to Foundation and Dune.

This has been submitted for ABC Wednesday prompt 'E' - E for Ender.

If you liked this book, you can check out my other reviews here. 

In search of freedom

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 23; the twenty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is FREE.



Winner of Blog-a-ton 23

It was twilight. The birds were rushing to return to their nests before night fall. Monkeys on the other hand had no such anxiety and continued to play on the trees. The deer just stood quietly and looked on. In between the trees one could see a small hamlet. Outside the hamlet sat a hermit. Dark matted hair covered his head and serene face while a simple ochre robe covered the rest of his body. Opening his eyes from his meditation, he saw a distant figure approaching him. From the gait, he could make out it was a young man.

“Swami, I have heard you’re a powerful sage and can grant any wish. I have come seeking your blessings”

He was a boy in his late teens. From his clothes, one could tell he was not too well off. Seeing the sage’s smiling face, he carried on.

“Oh great sage, I am a humble boy who serves tea at a little shop outside an IT company. My master makes me work from dawn to dusk serving tea, collecting empty cups and cleaning tables. I do not want to be bound to the tea shop all my life. Please make me free like those software engineers who come to have tea. They seem so jolly and carefree sitting in the tea shop chatting with each other over a tea and a smoke. Please make me one of them.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

The flowers were in full bloom. There was greenery everywhere. A gentle breeze was blowing. The sage looked on calmly as the young man walked up to him again. He was dressed in a T-shirt and jeans and one could see stubs of a two day beard on his face.

“Maharaj, I make a mistake in my wish. Can I please have my wish changed?”

The sage nodded gently. The boy feeling encouraged continued.

“A software engineer is nothing but a galley slave slogging day and night. My eyes have gone red looking at the computer screen fourteen hours a day. A tea and a cigarette with my colleagues twice a day is all the respite I get. On the other hand I see the project manager hardly has any work to do. He is just sitting on his ass and reading mail and talking on the phone all the time. I think that is what I want to do. Please make me a project manager.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

The sun was blazingly mercilessly. The forest had turned brown. One could hear the rustle of dried leaves whenever the wind blew. The sage’s meditation was disturbed by the sound of footsteps. Before he opened his eyes he knew who it was. Hardly anyone else ever visited him. He was looking a bit older, clean shaven and dressed in a formal shirt and trousers.

“Baba Ji, I have had a terrible time as a project manager. The project manager has absolutely no freedom, no power. I am everyone’s favorite whipping boy. I am at the mercy of everyone – the clients, the company’s senior management and even the boys who report to me! If one of the software engineers does not turn up one day, my blood pressure shoots up. I dread at the very thought of receiving a new call on my cell phone or an e-mail fearing what new client escalation it might be. I think it is the proprietors and chairmen who hold the true reins of power and are really free. Please make me the proprietor of a company.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

Monsoon had set in. The rains lashed furiously. Puddles of water could be seen everywhere. Not a living creature was in sight. They all seemed to have beaten the retreat. The hermit also was not seen on the porch. He had also taken shelter inside the hamlet. A purring sound could be heard as a car made its way towards the hamlet braving the heavy rains.

“Master, I have realized that business men are but pawns in the overall game. It is the politicians who really control the pieces. With one change in policy, they can turn business upside down. For every license, every land purchase we have to be at their door. I am tired of playing to their tunes. I now want to hold the fiddle. Please make me a politician.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

The entire hamlet was covered by mist. One could hardly see anything. Nor hear anything. A cold, calm silence reigned. Out of the mist emerged a man dressed in Khadi dress and a white cap.

“Holy one, I have come to realize that politicians are but slaves of public opinion. We need to always take care to keep the man on the street in good humor. Of course we accomplish our will through devious means but I am sick of all this behind the stage game. Whereas we are constrained by public will, film stars are the ones who really rule the public’s heart. I want to be the master of public’s hearts. Make me a film star.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

The birds were singing again and the monkeys frolicking happily. The sun smiled gently on the jungle and the wind was a soothing breeze. The rabbits played gleefully around the hamlet. As consistent as the seasons was the visitor to the hamlet. Back again.

“Oh, merciful saint, I can’t even walk freely on the street these days. I have to masquerade around in disguise always surrounded by security personal. I am a hero only on the screen. However there too I have no free will. Every little move is choreographed by the director. And even my money is not my own. When the mafia don gives me a call, I have to give him whatever he asks to escape his wrath. The mafia don is the one who literally holds the gun in real life. Please make me a mafia don.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

Dark clouds loomed over the sky. The whole forest looked on in anticipation for the first drops of rain to bring relief from scorching summer heat. The sage also had got used to his regular visitor and was kind of anticipating him. Neither the forest nor the sage was disappointed for there he was along with the first drops of rain.

“Oh true seer of truth, I have experienced living hell the past few days. Every moment I fear for my life. I have become a nervous wreck. I can’t trust anyone. If I weaken a moment, I fear the fellow next to me will kill me. I can’t live like this anymore. I have come to realize that I had utmost freedom in my life as a tea boy. I did not have to work for 14-15 hours a day. I was not living under constant pressure. I did not have to go and curry favors with anyone. I did not have to bother about the opinion of every Tom, Dick and Harry. I did not get threatening calls from anyone and most of all I never had to fear for my life. Please make me a tea boy again. That is my true destiny and that is where I shall find true freedom.”

“Thathasthu”, said the sage.

The rains had been light that year. The entire forest seemed full of life. A peacock had come on to the hamlet courtyard and was spreading its plumes and dancing. Two squirrels chased each other up a tree. The sage sat on the porch deep in meditation. No one came to disturb him. He continued his meditation peacefully.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Happy Independence Day!

If you liked this story, please check out my other stories here. 

Dune Series Review

As far as good writing goes, usually the devil is in the details. When writing about the present, many authors usually try to draw from personal experience. Some authors go to length to experience really dangerous and awkward situations to be able to depict them accurately in their stories. That can be a challenge but it is not impossible. Things get tougher when writing about the past. Here one can't rely on personal experiences unless some day time travel becomes a reality. So the writer has to depend on second hand information. He has to pore over numerous accounts regarding the period of time he is covering in his story to get a mental image of how things would have been in those times. Wherever details are not there, he has to fill up the gaps with consistent assumptions. Now how about the future? That too not the near future but really distant future! This is the task faced by writers of science fiction. Different writers deal with this differently. Easiest way is to keep the narrative sketchy. Another way is to keep most of the things same as current times but add futurist elements in some aspects alone. A third alternative is to go full throttle but hope the reader would forgive them for internal inconsistencies. It takes a real master to take up all the aspects of environment, society, economy, politics, technology, culture and social values and extrapolate them into the distant future in full detail and weave a story around them. The one master who has accomplished this is Frank Herbert in his Dune series – a magnum opus indeed!

The Dune series is a modern epic in its own right. Frank Herbert can proudly stand alongside Homer and Veda Vyasa. The Dune series is set far into the future by when the human race is expected to have broken away from earth and expanded across the universe. The six volumes of the Dune series span over thousands of years. The main focus is on a particular planet called Arrakis and its exotic ecological system. The fate of the whole universe depends on a substance called mélange spice that is produced only on Arrakis, making Arrakis the virtual center of the universe. The story has lot of interesting communities which use the mélange in different ways. The Bene Gesserit, an order of women who play an influential role in the story, uses it to activate memories of their ancestors. The spacing guild that controls all the interplanetary transport uses it to see the near future, which helps them to predict accidents and prevent them. The Tleilaxu use it for their genetic experiments. There are many more fascinating communities in the book such as the Suk doctors, the swordmasters on Ginaz, the Ixians, the Fremen etc each with their unique culture and specialties. The book follows the fortunes of the Atreides dynasty that rules over Arrakis and the influence they have on the universe. The book is full of intrigue and political plots and subplots as the different dynasties and communities struggle for dominance over the universe.

There are four elements that make this book exceptional – the imagination, the level of detail, the characterization and the overall philosophical undercurrent. Let us go over them one by one. As far as science fiction and fantasy go, imagination is more of a hygiene factor than a differentiators. However in terms of the extent of imagination one must say Frank Herbert towers over the rest. The book is full of mind blowing concepts. The possibility of our cells storing the memories of all our ancestors and the possibility of waking these memories and accessing them is one such concept. Then there are many concepts related to war craft, space travel, breeding programs, seeing the future, reincarnating the dead from their cells etc.

Talking of the details, they have been perfected to the minutest level on almost every aspect. It is almost like a real history book in its level of detail. When we want to check the quality of a digital image, we enlarge a small detail and see how it comes out. That is what Kenneth Anderson and Frank Herbert’s son Brian Herbert has done to some background details from the main Dune series. They have taken these elements and expanded them into complete novels.Even they make really interesting reads like how in a high resolution image even small details show really well when enlarged. This goes to show how much thought he has put into every little aspect. Even though the books are really large and six of them in the original series, nowhere does the book unnecessarily meander.

Usually one area where most science fiction tend to loose out is characterization. They get so carried away with technology and their overall impact on human society that they end up ignoring individuals. But Frank Herbert has managed to create some amazingly complex characters. The dilemmas they face, their hopes, their fears, their anxieties and insecurities make really interesting read. The heroes tower large at one point and then suddenly seem all so vulnerable. A hero in one book turns villain in the next. We see the key characters from various angles, from the vantage points of their own mind, through the minds of others, as a neutral observer seeing them in action and from posterity when the story has moved on a few centuries.That is almost every possible angle one can conceive of. Though a lot of importance is given to the heroes, there are numerous secondary characters of varying importance that we get to know personally and relate with.

The last and most important element is the philosophical undercurrent. Under philosophical undercurrent, I include the social engineering aspects, the military strategies and political intrigues along with the characters’ existential dilemmas. One can see glimpses of Sun Tzu, Chanakya and Machiavelli along with Tao and Zen in this series. Every chapter in the book starts with quotes from within the Dune world – either some instructional words by some character or some insight about the events or character in the chapter from a book within the Dune world. Other than that you get to hear some real words of wisdom from characters in the story, especially the God Emperor. Sample a couple of them below

“Laws to suppress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit
To use raw power is to make yourself infinitely vulnerable to greater power”

“Quite naturally, holders of power wish to suppress wild research. Unrestricted questing after knowledge has a long history of producing unwanted competition. The powerful want a "safe line of investigations," which will develop only those products and ideas that can be controlled and, most important, that will allow the larger part of the benefits to be captured by inside investors. Unfortunately, a random universe full of relative variables does not insure such a "safe line of investigations”

The whole books is scattered with gems like these. The reader would be able to relate with many of these in the contemporary context as well. The best part is that the quotes and philosophy blend seamlessly with the main story line. The story actually reinforces the ideas. So books in fact would make a very interesting read for someone who wants to understand politics and power struggles in general as well.

Overall I would rate this series as one of the best I have ever read. However I would not recommend for children and the very casual reader. A new reader starting the series might get totally lost in the complexity of the Dune universe. One has to persist in order to reap the rewards. Also one cannot afford to quickly skim through the book. I would recommend the reader to go over each huge tome patiently, relishing every line. I did that and at the end of it I was so hooked on to the Dune universe that I eagerly gulped down all the books written by Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson as well even though they are mere shadows of the original works by Frank Herbert.

This review has been posted at ABC Wednesday for the prompt D : D for Dune.

If you liked this review, please click here to read some of my other reviews.

Legacy of Bharatavarsha

A pall of darkness spread over the land of light.

Plundered and looted century after century,

Our ancient mother land lay bound in shackles

Enervated, helpless and worn out, a legacy lost.

Invaders powerful came sailing from far away seas

With a hand of iron the land they ruled, for were they

Of war craft, masters; of umpteen battles, veterans

No answer had we for their canons and muskets

But one hero stood in their path of complete dominion

He held no gun, no sword not even a humble kitchen knife

Half naked, thin and starved, was he; a most unlikely warrior

But held he a weapon secret, most powerful and potent

One weapon to rule them all, one weapon to bind them all

Lord of all swords of metal that cut wood and flesh

Is the sword of truth that cuts through deception and lies

This sword, the legacy of this land, he held in his heart

For this is the land of the noble king Harish Chandra,

The noble Raja who to keep his word gave away his kingdom,

Sold into slavery, himself, his queen and his one and only child

Never ever an inch swerved even in face of grave calamities

For this is the land of the wise scholar Nakkeeran

The learned poet who held steadfastly on to truth

Even against the wrath of the mighty God Shiva himself

To ashes be burnt he chose rather than truth forsake

For this is the land of the saintly prince Siddhartha,

Who home and hearth, wife and child leaving went

Into the wilderness, all alone in search of the truth

Seeking relentlessly, till the truth itself revealed

Truth, his blade and armor, absolutely no fear had he, this hero

The baton blows, he boldly faced, not even an eyelid batting

A whole nation he inspired to stand up and her legacy reclaim.

In defense of truth laid down he his life, and immortal became.

This is the proud legacy of our ancient mother land

The legacy preserved by sages and kings of the yore

The lost legacy, our nation’s father reclaimed for us

The legacy of truth, Bharatavarsha’s gift to the world

Dark clouds now loom ominously over the entire world

Succor is desperately sought from the ancient land of light

Will she regain her lost spirit and reclaim her ancient legacy

In time to save this world engulfed in lies and deception?

This post is a part of Patriotic poetry contest by Gurukripa. If you liked these poems, please check out my other poems by clicking here.

Chrestomanci series Review

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'Diana Wynne Jones'. Name sounds quite a mouthful, eh? In spite of considering myself a connoisseur of science fiction and fantasy for both children and adults, I had not heard of her for quite some time. So when I picked up the book ‘Charmed Life’ from the local British Council Library, it was to be just another dose of any children’s fiction that I need from time to time to maintain my sanity in this insane adult world. I was so pleasantly surprised by the caliber of storytelling that I had to read the rest of her Chrestomanci series. Looking her up on Wiki, I came to know that this had not been my first introduction to her. One of my favorite anime movies ‘Howl’s moving Castle’ had been based on a book by her.

Most of the fantasy writers try to create a world either based on Tolkien’s works or on one of the ancient mythologies – usually Celtic or Norse, sometimes Greek or Egyptian as well. The other option is to borrow from dungeons and dragons. A third option is to bring some fantasy concept into the modern world. The  Chrestomanci series appears to be of the third kind. However one must credit her for the originality and novelty of the fantasy concept she has introduced in her works. Her concept in some ways straddles the worlds of science fiction and fantasy. The science fiction concept she uses is that of parallel dimensions. The fantasy concept she uses is the superstition that a cat has nine lives and of course the regular withcraft and wizardry. Her world has nine alternate realities running parallel to each other, each of which has different rules of 'science and magic' and the histories have taken different paths. Some authors have gone deep into this concept of travelling sideways into time into alternate realities. If one wants to explore this concept more, I would recommend 'Time lines' by Michael Crichton and 'End of Eternity' by Isaac Asimov. However Diana Wynne Jones only uses this concept more as a backdrop for her story. In the world of Chrestomanci, every person would have counterparts in the nine different worlds, each leading a different kind of life. But the Chrestomanci alone would exist just in one world with no counterparts in other worlds, conferring upon him advanced magical powers, nine lives and an ability to travel from one reality into another.

The Chrestomanci are supposed to be some kind of a magic police controlling the use of magic and travel across alternate realities. Usually it is a position occupied by only one person at a time. He usually has to identify and train his successor. Two of the books ‘Charmed Life’ and ‘The Lives of Christopher Chant’ are coming to age stories. The stories closely follow the lives of two different Chrestomanci, their voyages of self discovery and how they come to terms with their strengths and weaknesses. But all her books do not have the Chrestomanci as the protagonists. Of course the Chrestomaci make their appearance and play pivotal roles in all the books. But the stories are told from the point of view of other characters. This has an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage is that instead of always seeing the world from the eyes of Chrestomanci always, one gets to see the Chretomanci and the rest of their universe from different perspectives. But the disadvantage is that readers usually like to associate closely with one character and get into his or her shoes. Here one is not able to do that. This kind of takes away the continuity from the series making them more like stand alone books set in the same world connected only by the chronology of events. So there is no intensity and eager wait for the next book in the series that characterized the Harry Potter series. Maybe that was one of the reasons for this series' non stellar performance.

In terms of story structure, there isn’t too much travel and adventure. Nor do any of the individual books taken on a biographical or mythological tone, spanning large expanses of times. The books confine themselves to a limited period of time of say less than a year. The books can be categorized as drama, focusing on interplay of different characters. Characterization is clearly her strength. She manages to create really complex characters that seem life like. Unlike most children’s’ authors, she does not shy away from exploring the dark side of people’s characters. Her works ruthlessly pierce through children’s façade of a beautiful world . Death freely occurs and one can see pure evil characters even among children and the protagonist’s own near and dear. However it is not too difficult to segregate her characters into black and white buckets. We don’t see any really grey characters that can be good or bad based on situation and the perspective they are seen from. But I guess that is too much to expect in children’s fantasy.

One does not get an 'out of the world' experience that one gets in a Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings here. A few more layers would have added greater depth to her world. In spite of conceiving of a wonderful concept, one is left with the feeling that the story could have done with more details on the 'Chrestomanci' universe.  That coupled with a bit more intensity to the overall series storyline might have helped her pip J K Rowling past the post. But one can never say. The success of a work also depends on whether it’s time has come.It is difficult to say how even Harry Potter would have fared if it had come out 20 years earlier. Coming back to this series, I would definitely recommend the Chrestomanci series to all children and lovers of science fiction and fantasy. It is a light read guaranteed to offer several fun filled hours.

This has been posted for Three Word Wednesday  3WW CCLII Prompt : Appear, Dose, pierce and ABC Wednesday prompt C - C for Chrestomanci

If you like this post, please do check out my other reviews here.