The November Man (Spoiler Alert!)

Pierce Brosnan has always been my favorite - right from Remington Steel to his becoming the famed agent 007. Frankly, I actually looked forward to Bond movies while he was Bond. So it won't be wrong to say that I watched this movie for Brosnan because there have been so many movies in this genre over the years that there is practically nothing new left when it comes to the plot.

Brosnan plays Peter Devereaux, an erstwhile CIA officer, who is living a retired life in Lausanne when his past life catches up with him. His former boss, Jake Hanley, suddenly shows up at his doorstep announcing that he needs to help Natalia, the aide of a Russian presidential candidate Arkady Fedorov, flee Russia because she asked specifically for Peter. Natalia copies a few incriminating photos from Fedorov's safe which will help bring him under the influence of the CIA. Peter and Natalia have a history - and a daughter. He rushes to help her but sadly cannot save her when his protege David Mason kills her under orders from CIA station chief, Perry Weinstein. The dying Natalia gives him the proof on her phone. Now Peter must track down the person whose name Natalia gave him as soon as she met up with him - Mira Filipova.

The plot, for once, does not revolve around any missiles - biological or otherwise. Thank God for small mercies! It doesn't seem out-of-the-world either. We have all heard of the Chechen conflict. A war instigated for the sole purpose of securing a weak nation's oilfields sounds way too familiar. But what I could not understand is why Peter chooses to expose Federov rather than joining Hanley in a plot to blackmail him to make sure that Russia joins Nato. Surely, as a former CIA agent he understands the international implications of it. Also, Natalia died while making sure that CIA got the proof they needed to make sure that Federov dances to their tune. I am not sure that he can take the moral stand that Federov is guilty of killing his own men to trigger a war and hence deserves to be exposed. Whichever way I looked at it, Peter Devereaux's actions seem inexplicable. Another puzzling thing - how can CIA remain oblivious to the fact that Peter has a daughter while Mason fishes out the truth seemingly easily?

That said, I enjoyed the movie - though half of it was spent in sighing over Mason. If only he were my neighbor, I would have followed the commandment 'Love Thy Neighbor' to a T. :-)

Taj Trilogy - Indu Sundaresan

Thinking Fast And Slow - Daniel Kahneman

Automata

I knew it would be one of those humanity-on-the-brink-of-disaster movies which end up totally creeping me out because the plot seems too plausible. :-( I mean, it is supposed to be happening sometime in the future like year 2156 or something like that but the rate at which the world is hurtling towards one disaster or another, it looks entirely possible in the next decade or so.

The reason for the earth's destruction in this movie is the solar flares - which have managed to clear out about 99% of the population. The surviving humanity has built robots to help it live in this world. These robots have 2 basic protocols in their bio-kernel (whatever that means!) - one, they cannot harm any form of life and two, they cannot modify themselves. But the desertification has relentlessly marched on and the robots have becomes little more than manual laborers.

Jacq Vaucan (Anthonio Banderas in a bald avatar!) is an insurance investigator for a company manufacturing these robots. He is investigating a claim that a police officer shot a robot because it was caught in the act of modifying itself. Jacq suspects that someone somewhere is illegally modifies the robots. His boss finds it hard to believe but nevertheless tells Jacq that he will authorize his transfer to an area near the ocean if he can find the proof. The rest of the movie is about Jacq's search for the elusive 'Clocksmith' and the choices that he has to make.

The whole movie has a grey depressing look that is common to these Armageddon genre movies. I wondered why Jacq's wife wanted to bring a child in this sorry miserable world where people had to think hard to remember what an ocean looked like. I ended up feeling sorry for the robots instead of the humans. Two images that will forever remain seared in my memory are that of a legless robot trying to cross the road and saying 'your wish is my command' as the corrupt officer Wallace yells at him to speed it up and a robot, sitting with his penniless owner, saying over and over again 'Please sir, my owner is hungry'. :-(

Definitely not a good movie to start your new year with but then definitely a movie that makes you wonder (for the nth time!) if this indeed is the future that is in store for the humanity :-(

Scion Of Ikshvaku - Amish Tripathy

Trust Amish to turn a well-known story on its head and get away with it as well. That's why we see Ram, the eldest son of King Dashrath, the apple of his eye by all accounts, depicted as the one least favored by him - just because he was born at the same time Dashrath was defeated by the Lankan king Ravan in the battle at Karachapa. That's why Manthara is a rich merchant lady instead of a lowly maid in the palace. And that's why Sita is a brave warrior who also happens to be the prime minister at her father's kingdom instead of a meek shy wife following every one of her husband's orders. What can I say? I like this version much better.

I have always preferred Mahabharata over Ramayana - because, let's face it, it is more practical, more suited to Kaliyuga than the painfully straight-laced Ramarajya. I have never understood the King who abandoned his wife just because someone in the kingdom was doubtful about the paternity of the children the Queen was carrying. And I absolutely hated the Queen who made her husband go after a deer for its skin and got herself kidnapped. On top of it, she sacrificed her own life to prove her faithfulness to him instead of reducing him to a pile of ashes with a mighty curse when he dared to cast aspersion on her. As far as I am concerned, the men of Ramayana are too ideal and the women too meek, except of course Kaikeyi. But then she is the quintessential vamp - not up to any good.

So I devoured Amish's version of the ageless tale with glee abandon. Prince Ram is painfully straightforward here as well but I could identify with his need to obey rules. Well, most of the times - because I totally approved of Prince Bharat's methods of punishing the guilty in the Roshni case (a very painful reminder of the Nirbhaya case!). He also has very clear ideas about marriage - which are so relevant in today's times. I liked the independent, brave and intelligent Seeta. I also appreciated that Amish refrained from changing some of the very basic characteristics of this tale - the scheming nature of Kaikeyi and the love between the four brothers. Lakshmana and Bharat are well-known characters from the original epic because the former accompanied his brother and sister-in-law in exile and the latter looked after the kingdom only as an emissary of his eldest brother. But we don't get to read much about Prince Shatrughna. Amish, however, has also managed to build a pretty comprehensive character of him.

I am looking forward to reading the next novel in this series because I want to see how Amish builds up the character of the mighty Lankan king - Ravana.

For the Pathankot Martyrs

Lt Colonel Niranjan Kumar

Corporal Gursevak Singh

Havildar Kulwant Singh

Subedar Fateh Singh

Sepoy Sanjeevan Singh

Sepoy Jagdish Chandra

Sepoy Mohit Chand

My new year wish - May the terrorists the world over realize the folly of their ways. May the earth finally find the peace that she desperately needs. :-(

Just finished reading Amish Tripathi's 'Scion of Ikshvaku'. I just loved what Ram says about marriage at one point and couldn't resist the temptation of quoting the dialogue here:

'Well, to begin with, it is not a necessity; there should be no compulsion to get married. There's nothing worse than being married to the wrong person. You should only get married if you find someone you admire, who will help you understand and fulfill your life's purpose. And you, in turn, can help her fulfill her life's purpose. If you're able to find that one person, then marry her.'

What can I say? I agree wholeheartedly :-)

Raja, Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniya (Epic Channel)

Last Wednesday's 'Raja, Rasoi Aur Anya Kahaniya' episode - perhaps the last one - talked about food in Western India.

First to be featured was a dish made from rabbit - called 'खट खरगोश' - in royal kitchens of Rajasthan. They used to stuff the rabbit with spices and put it in a ditch to cook over some leaves. Then there was mention of the famous laal maas. The characteristic red color is imparted to the dish because of Mathiyani chilli which some king in some Rajasthani village had specially got for his farmers.

Then it was the turn of Goa and the famous dishes like Sorpotel and Vindaloo. Much of the credit for these dishes goes to the Portuguese. The Sorpotel uses vinegar. It keeps the meat fresh for longer duration and must have come handy during long see voyages. Some of the Portuguese married local women and settled down. The local women of course disliked the bland taste of the original Portuguese food and added their own spices to enhance the taste.

When it came to Maharashtra, the vegetarian Peshewa food was mentioned. Kolhapur's famous Tambda and Pandhara rassa was talked about. It seems the original pandhara rassa has lot of cashewnuts in it but the version served in restaurants makes ample use of corn flour to impart the white color as the restaurants cannot afford to use so much of cashew.

Mumbai's legendrary Wada Pao and the Pao Bhaji were the next dishes to be featured. There are many stories about how the Pao Bhaji came into existence. Some say it was prepared for the mill workers to keep them sustained for longer hours. Some say the traders at the BSE - working later hours while performing trades with foreign countries - needed something to eat during the night so the nearby restaurants started the practice of putting together leftovers of the day's vegetables gravies along with spices and Pao Bhaji was born. The word 'Pao' has interesting origins. Some say it was sold in a quartet hence the name Pao as in quarter. Another legend goes that the dough for making this bread was kneaded by feet hence the word Pao :-)

The episode ended with the mention of Gujarati Thali.