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  "As usual, Watson, your help has been invaluable," he went on warmly. "Though not yourself luminous, you are a conductor of light."   This singular sentence, though not from the Sherlock Holmes series written by Conan Doyle, does sum up the 'function' of Watson in Sherlock Holmes deductive reasoning.   Dr. Watson was never really helpful to Sherlock Holmes in actually solving the cases. He was his companion, would do-as-directed and function as the record-keeper and chronicler of the cases. His presence was needed in the stories so that Sherlock had somebody to explain to. Sherlock would have to explain the clueless Watson how he deduced and solved the case … in effect telling the reader how he did it.   But while being a 'dumb observer', Watson often made comments which sparked some new line of thought in Sherlock's mind; often leading to the solution. That particular function of Watson gets highligh...

Last month, I travelled to Dubai via Air India. My expectations were not much from AI as far in-flight entertainment was concerned so I was carrying a book (as usual) to read during the 3 hour flight. A random check of the entertainment system made me realize that there I had an extremely limited choice with fixed movies running on fixed schedule. During my flight to Dubai, I came across a Hindi Movie with some not-very-well-known faces. For want of a better choice, I kept it on while continuing to read. After a few minutes, with some interesting events happening on screen; I had to close the book and for the rest of the journey, I actually saw the movie. I liked the movie which was about a simple guy who comes to the city, a guy who would go out of his way and help others selflessly, often getting into trouble. The movie spans a single night of his adventures where he gets into trouble, becomes friendly with a roadside punter and becomes a friend to an underworld Don; all th...

  I would have a change in my reading pattern and reading list soon. I have been voraciously reading Fiction for past 3 years. I haven't really picked up self-help / educational / non-fiction stuff except for an occasional reading and that too could be counted on the fingers of one hand.   I anticipate a change in my reading selection in coming month. there will some educational material entering my reading in some time. I will have to upgrade my skills and learn things about a new area of work. This would need going back to the study table and actually study.   I am sure that's gonna come with its own challenges. Reading non-Fiction and that too for the purpose of study is going to be a big change (read: challenge) for me J   Let's see how it goes …

    I had posted about Rohit Shetty and his Golmaal series of movies way back in 2010 here   Looking at the release years of Golmaal 1, 2 & 3 as 2006, 2008 & 2010 … It was only expected that the next in series would come in 2012 … but no news of G4 yet.   Is Rohit Shetty done with the Golmaal series ?   Incidently: Rohit Shetty and Ajay Devgan come together again this year in Bol Bachchan … where they have the Jr. Bachchan along with them (considering the name of the movie, it would be surprising NOT to have the Bachchan's involved)  

More than a decade and a half ago … let's say around 1995 … Internet was something associated with cyber cafes. Few people would access it from home. Not because you couldn't or it was expensive; simply because most did not have a computer at home. Young people would go out to the cybercafé and chat rooms were a rage then. Email forwards and chat room discussions became the staple diet for the youngsters and 'ASL' would mark the beginning of some many acquaintances rather than a hi or a hello. By the turn of the century, the awareness about computers had increased and people began to buy home computers. Another 5 years and it became imperative that you buy a computer at home if you have kids who are about to finish schooling. Another 5 years passed and by 2010; a computer is very much a part of the house and there is probably one in every home that can afford it. it is no longer a luxury … slowly it has become a necessity. And this rapid penetration of the c...

This is what my series completion score looked like after my marathon reading last month. Series Completion Score: (as of 30 th Apr 2012) Three Investigators      33 out of 63 Sherlock Holmes          60 out of 60 Famous Five                 05 out of 21 Best of Satyajit Ray     10 out of 21 Total                           108 out of 165 With the completion of Sherlock Holmes, I will remove it from monthly count and replace it with another set of Sherlock Holmes Stories (Non-Conan) – 'Exploits of Sherlock Holmes' containing 12 and '' containing 33 short stories – 45 stories in total. Both these sets are diverse in their styles, the 'Exploits', co-authored by Conan's younges...

    Yet another book to review from BlogAdda.com; the differentiating factor this time around was that the book was by a Japanese Author and the book has already sold 2 million copies so that makes it a hit already. With that kind of a backdrop; expectations are set a bit high and you expect good stuff coming out of the pages.   The book is "The Devotion of Suspect X' by Keigo Higashino   The back cover talks about a murder mystery and when you begin reading the book; the murder actually takes place within the first chapter itself. The problem is that you actually know who killed the murdered person and who helped dispose the body. So now you begin to wonder about what the mystery is all about?   And then as the story unravels … you realize that the story is about deception, misdirection and deductive reasoning and strategizing of 2 formidable geniuses trying to cover up and expose a crime. The story becomes a game of chess where the actual murd...

Continued from Previous post ...  16. Bipin Chowdhury's Lapse of Memory by Satyajit Ray A man leading a normal routine life comes across another man who he doesn't remember. Not only the other man remembers our protagonist but also insists that he had visited Ranchi about 6-7 years back and even met a friend there and had a cut on his right knee there. Our protagonist does not remember any of this and is quite troubled at this selective lapse of memory. He even contacts his friend whom he had supposedly met there and the person confirms it. Doctor's prescription is to visit Ranchi once again as it might inspire some memories. the climax is both, a bit funny as well as interesting (and as with SR's other stories, there is a small but useful lesson to learn for the readers).  17. Sherlock Holmes: the Adventure of the Retired Colourman by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle An old man wants Sherlock to track his unfaithful wife who has run away with a neighbor. All doesn...

Continued from previous post ... 10. the Gemini Contenders by Robert Ludlum This was the second Robert Ludlum I have picked up. Trevayne was an enjoyable read and this one turned out to be an equally enjoyable one. the story begins with the secret hiding of a large vault (which is supposed to contain religious artifacts that can rock the world) and then followed by the assassination of the person (and his entire) who was involved in the hiding operation. His eldest son who survives the slaughter is saved by British Intelligence and taken out of the country and made the mastermind of a special team which would cause mis-management in enemy folds.  the vault and the train carrying it keep haunting our man  from time to time (in spite of his repeated claim that he knows nothing about it) until he decides to take it head-on; wherein he meets an adversary who literally cripples him. The story moves a generation and his twin sons are on their own career paths in military a...

  I began April reading Sherlock Holmes and Satyajit Ray before picking up a Famous Five story (which I did not read last month) and a novel by yet another Indian Author. Later in the month, I also picked up Dean Koontz and Robert Ludlum; finishing off the month with Sherlock Holmes and Satyajit Ray.   Special thing last month was that I completed the Sherlock Holmes series !!! New author this month was Suparna Chatterjee. I also picked up The Mysterious Traveler Magazine which had 6 short stories by 6 different lesser known (literally unknown) authors. The month was extremely satisfactory with plenty of varied reading - 3 full length novels from different genres and my regulars of Three Investigators, Famous Five, Sherlock and Satyajit Ray along with a Magazine of short stories. The exceptionally high count of 25 this month should be seen in the context of the fact that more than two-thirds of the 25 were 'short stories' (6 each from Sherlock Holmes, Satyaj...

I always thought that the only Sherlock Holmes stories that were there to read were those by Conan. When I came across 'The House of Silk', I read somewhere that this was the first time a non-Conan Sherlock Holmes novel was written officially endorsed by the Conan Doyle Estate. The estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle granted permission for the first new Sherlock Holmes novel in 96 years, to be written by Anthony Horowitz. I finished reading the entire Conan and have the House of Silk to take up next. But curiosity got the better of me and I wondered if I could find more of Sherlock Holmes by other authors (even if not endorsed by the Conan estate); just like I had discovered several more Three Investigator titles when I searched. With that began a search for more of non-Conan Sherlock Holmes stories   … An Amazon search of 'Sherlock Holmes' helped me learn that plenty of authors tried their hand at writing stories/novels with a touch of Sherlock. Wi...