The One Year With Agatha Christie- My Adventures with Hercule Poirot!

I have always wanted to read the Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie for as long as I could remember. I couldn't because well given the restless and compulsive reader I always have been, I wouldn't have exercised self-control (as there are around 40 books in the series- novels, not including the short stories), I made a deliberate decision to forgo the series back in the days when I was in school.

So, in September, 2014- I bought a Kindle. I have already written about it once before how I enjoyed reading on my Kindle, so I will not gush about the pros and my Kindle experience again. So having bought a Kindle, and having literally the world for an oyster, I vowed in 2014 that I would read the entire series and make up for the lost time.

The year is over, and I am so happy that I am finished with the series. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of going through each book. Agatha Christie is truly a literary genius. Good authors have this annoying habit of often repeating themselves, but not Christie. She will give you the slip at any point you feel cocky and try to get ahead of yourself.

The best thing about reading Agatha Christie is how Hercule Poirot would say, “It's all about the victim, and the psychology”.

The characters and the intricate plot is always so believable. Christie in all her novels has always based the motive on the Seven Cardinal Sins. The motive is always simple, the characters not so much. They all exhibit shades of grey.

Much like the criminals, even Hercule Poirot himself is not spared from the fallacies of the human nature. In One, Two, Buckle my Shoes he is shown to be someone who takes the high moral ground by preserving the sanctity of life by putting behind the bars a man on whom the entire stability of a nation depends- a man who professes to kill not for himself, but for what he believes is patriotism. But in the Murder of Orient Express, he lets go of the killer(s). Oops! Spoiler over there! :)

Hercule Poirot like his namesake- the Greek hero, is proud, vain and patronizing. But he is acutely aware of his personality and disposition which he himself reflects upon from time to time, providing comic relief- along with Capt. Hastings, his valet, and Poirot's own reflections on his socially awkward secretary.

Ideally, a review of the entire series is supposed to follow. However, yours truly has grown a lazy streak over the past year. I feel lazy when it comes to writing, and honestly a lack of enthusiasm as well. But given the stupendous effort which went behind this particular blog entry, I will however list the absolute must reads from the series in chronological order.

• Murder of Roger Ackroyd
• Lord Edgware Dies
• Murder on the Orient Express
• Three Act Tragedy
• Murder in Mesopotamia
• Cards on the Table
• Dumb Witness
• Sad Cypress
• One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
• Evil Under the Sun
• Five Little Pigs
• Taken at the Flood
• Mrs McGinty's Dead
• After the Funeral
• The Clocks
• Elephants Can Remember

I hope anyone who reads this write-up is inspired to take up the series. I believe people immortalize themselves when they publish a book in ink. However, very few of them are able to make a mark as strong as Agatha Christie. The books are to survive any generation- of that I am sure.

Happy Reading!

Reading: Going Digital

Being an avid reader, I more often than not have to make conscious decisions when I pick books to read. People often remark, that as and when they grow up they find less and less time to devote to their hobbies. I often thought how it could be so, but to my utter disappointment I found it to be true for some reason. My attention span has deteriorated and I find myself unable to sit for long marathon reading sessions like I once did.

Moreover, I had stopped buying books altogether because of lack of closet space to store them. I am very particular about how I keep my books, and when there isn't enough space, I won't compromise by stuffing them.

Buying books also acted as a deterrent, as it meant that I have only so much choice for experimenting. If a book isn't worth it, I feel cheated out of both money and storage space.

Last year, I finally decided to take the plunge and went digital. I really am the old school type- them people who love the smell of a new book, and the act of taking out the book and turning over its pages. But then, I really did consider the one aspect of buying a Amazon Kindle- the ease.

To put it frankly, I have never enjoyed reading so much as on my Kindle Paperwhite. As of now, I am reading a short stories collection, Hercule Poirot series by Agatha Christie and a couple of other books.

This is something, that I would never even consider doing before I had Kindle. I would serially go through the entire book before I would set my sights on a new one. But now literally I have the independence to try out several books at once and read them at my leisure.

I do miss the actual books, but I guess everything has it's perks. As a friend of mine put it once, if you are reading e-books, at worst they can be deleted. No more dodging people who beg you to lend them books! Believe me, when I say that I cringed every time I received a lent book back- I always ended up buying fresh copies which were untouched.

I have crossed several series/books of my reading list since last year. Some of them being:

1. The Inheritance Series by Christopher Paolini
2. Hercule Poirot by Agatha Christie (currently reading The Hollow)
3. The Seventh Tower Series by Garth Nix
4. The Wardstone Chronicles (currently @ I am Grimalkin)
5. Fifty Shades Series (I really am ashamed, but I had to read them before the movies!)
6. The Interpreter of Maladies and The Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri

In all, a tally of 41 books. That is a lot of books. I really am surprised. I am reading on way in Delhi Metro which makes the commute surprisingly bearable.

I am happy because I distinctly remember that during the academic session of my senior high school examinations, I had foregone the Hercule Poirot series, I have always rued the fact that I never read the cult book series when it came to mystery and old school detective cases. Now, I am more than half way through the entire series.

I set myself a reading target of 50 books on Goodreads, hoping that I would shame myself to read at least 20 if not more. But surprises here, I am done with 41 books as of today. I guess I was wrong when I believed in people who said that there never was enough time. There always is!

Book Review: Once Upon the Tracks of Mumbai

So one fine day, as I was checking my emails, I received a message from the author Rishi Vohra, requesting a book review. The title sounded cheesy (too much Bollywood like), I had never heard of the author before, and frankly I was sceptical as I thought it was most probably a spam mail.

I however, was proved wrong.

I started reading the book, and I was in for a joy read!

Balwant Srivastav aka Babloo- the protagonist of the story. His world is divided into Him (his alter ego), Vandana (the love of his life) and the Others (‘they’). ‘They’ call him autistic, schizophrenic, psychotic. Neglected as a child, misunderstood by his own. He has nothing but his love for Vandana.

Vandana- the beauty of the Railway Colony, the one who everybody yearns for. What does she want? She wants to fly out to USA. The place where all her dreams can come true.

Sikander- the antagonist, the cable guy, the philanderer. The villain. The one who almost got away.

And then there is the Rail Man- the hero of the Mumbai railway tracks. The fearless one, who has nothing to lose, but what can he possibly gain?

Together their lives are intertwined. The author weaves a beautiful tale and sets it against the dynamic backdrop of Mumbai. The book is well researched and written in a simple, lucid manner. The characters are well developed, and complex emotions portrayed in a way you can truly relate.

The book is a reflection of the Indian middle class, and their survival. It picks on various issues here and then- sexual harassment, corruption, the stagnating bureaucratic system to name a few.

The book is a must read!

To know more about the author, visit www.rishivohra.com .

The book is also available for order at flipkart.com. 

I know your little secret!

So, I continue my tales of travel in the Delhi Metro. People still kick each other, push over, and when the metro door opens, rush in. The funny thing is that no matter if someone is for the time being physically incapacitated or let us say has an injured foot or back, but when the the metro comes over, they all can sprint at a pace which would shame Usain Bolt.

Moving over the usual, something totally unusual happened. Allow me to tell you the glorious tale.

I was at the CST Interchange (Central Secretariat), when I was waiting for the metro. A girl somewhat around my age, stands right next to me ignoring the queue that was there. However, the first thing that I noticed was not her, but the book that she was reading- the soft porn which has taken over Europe. Guess?

Fifty Shades of Grey

Now I am not judging, and this comes from the guy who has read through all 4 books of Twilight. In my defence, the first book deserved a little credit, and then since I had read the first already, I had this need for a closure. There, I have admitted it.

But, I digress. Let me return to the girl. The crazy devil that I am, I just couldn’t let go. The metro comes and, she luckily gets a seat in the general compartment, I purposely take a position where I could observe her from discreetly- someplace not too far, not exactly close, but close enough for her to notice me should I decide to make an appearance out of thin air. I had approximately 22 mins to make my move.

Tik tock!

Like a silent assassin, I wait for my quarry to give me a glimpse of an opportunity that I was waiting for. Almost 20 min had passed, and my station was coming up next. And then…

She turned a very delicate shade of red. SHE BLUSHED! Voila!

And there I had it! Now, if you can. Imagine me smirking like a devil, ear to ear. Suddenly, as if aware of me, she looks at me straight in the eye. I wink with a knowing smile, which subtly says “I know your little secret”, which makes her blush even more and before she could react, I get off at my station without caring to look back.

Summer of 2012

The Summer of 2012- the best and the laziest summer ever. The best and the worst thing about holidays- you can’t’ have enough of them, and when you do have them; you despise them for the inconvenience of having nothing to do. The eternally restless soul that I have, torments me.
So I decided to shake things up a bit on my lazy-assed schedule.

Having giving up on getting up early ages ago, I resolved not only to do so, but go out on jogging- a herculean task for me given that am extremely lazy and detest any sort of workout; but then I had already decided. My first day - catching the early morning dew, the chirping of the birds, and the first breeze; and I knew I would do it again and perhaps made a self-promise to make a habit out of it- a first for me.

It has been almost a month slacking and I finally have done what my Mom has been after me- making my own breakfast. And it’s not just toast or Maggi! Over the past week- I have experimented crazy with sandwiches. Making them crazier and more outrageous by the day! And then cometh the drinks for the breakfast- which necessitates my mention of the awesome “Chocolate Shake” which I seem to have perfected!

The rest of the day is spent on reading and catching up on old news and stuff I had earlier put on hold. Long ago I had made up a Charles Dickens reading list, and then I had to do away with it due to time constraints, but am back with vengeance:

1)      A Tale of Two Cities

2)      Oliver Twist

3)      Great Expectations

4)      Bleak House*

5)      Pickwick Papers

Have already read through the first three, and making progress with The Bleak House.

As to other pursuits- I recently downloaded the “Vikram and Betaal” stories which were originally aired in 1988 with Arun Govil playing the fabled king Vikramaditya and Sajjan Singh as the Betaal. I had always wanted to watch the episodes in serial order, something I never did uptill now. And the series is amazing!

To those curious about multiplayer gaming, I achieved what I believed was impossible for me- a 25 killstreak on a 300+ ping server on Game Ranger playing Call of Duty:4 Modern Warfare I. I can be found online every night from 2200-0100 hours for a match. My Game Ranger account id: 2453639. Bring your shotgun and body armour!

And back!

My previous post was all agony. Therein I was so lost- I forgot to mention the one significant thing that did happen after all. I had been reading The Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens and had finished already at the time of my previous post. The book was an experience in a new way. I had earlier read Dickens “David Copperfield”; and I was expecting some familiarity in style- distinctive to each writer. Those I did- the vivid imagery depicting love, poverty, apathy and anger. But what was new was a whole matured style of putting things around.

The story itself was not much, but it’s the manner which was intriguing. Looking forward to start a new book by the same author- Bleak House.

Something now on the other front but on the same topic: books!

I have never been much fan of fantasy as a genre. The fantasy part has never fascinated me. What does and more than piques my interest is the mannerisms and the customs. And I refer to the battles, the sword fights, spears, the horse chases, the bowmen and I could go on and on. The slow gentle pace with which the story unfolds and then accelerates on the battle field. The sole reason why I literally worship and would pick Lord of the Rings over the Harry Potter series.

So why these fantasy talks? Because I found a new entry to my list; and it didn’t even start with a book! But, the other way around which is quite unusual- as my custom is to read the book first and then switch over to the movies. I am referring to the Game of Thrones TV series which is based on George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. The series is based on 7 books, out of which only 5 have been released. Season One is based on the first book and consists of ten episodes.

It’s literally a mind blowing series, the actors are well cast and each plays their part to perfection. There’s however a lot of nudity and sexual violence which is quite unnecessary for most parts of the series. But oh what the heck, I love this series! And what luck- Season Two is only 2 days away!

Speaking of TV series; I am a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory. The Director- Chuck Lorre publishes a Vanity Card at the end of each episode. The contents of this one today is worth a share:

Cheerio!

Ps: to those concerned, my allergy is now at bay- which means “The happy days are here again….”