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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...