The Lost Symbol

I read this book in the last week ,finally .The style was there ,the historic monuments were there and of course Langdon was there but essentially the plot was not very strong .Still the book made interesting non stop read material.

What I found very very fascinating was the fact that Brown has woven the story right into the monuments in Washington ,an unlikely location for a Brownian tale .The author holds you right till the end and even kills Langdon when it is almost over .The little twist about the anti hero is really exciting .Brown goes into so much intricate detail about the Capitol ,that ,if I were to lose my way there I surely would be able to get out on my own .Then there is the Masonic rites in all its details with a good number of the rich and famous tossed in .

The details also bore you after a point especially if you have read the previous two books in the series .Brown seems to go on and on about the symbols and their meanings ,it really clogs your mind after a decent while .The masonic rituals are described so elaborately ,you get the impression that it must be boring to be a mason .Then the plot ,rather hairline , with not so strong events to hold it up .The antihero ,excuse me ,really doesn't seem to know what he is upto and naturally like all antiheroes ends his mission disastrously .The climax is big letdown .

To say it all ,Dan Brown ,weaves history (or should it be archaeology )with fantasy and ensures that you read through the volume with engrossing narrative and good handful of plotters from the rich,the famous and the powerful .Happy reading folks !

Indian Parliament

The Indian parliament really lived up to its name yesterday ..I was rather afraid that they might let the opportunity for a grand ruckus slip through their fingers .They proved me wrong and how!While the earlier commotions on almost all issues were merely a energetic rushing into the well ,yesterday we saw our elected members do us proud by snatching the paper from right under the Chairman's nose .When it comes to guarding our rights ,our MP s are truly aware that they are the rulers and they are the ones who have got the mandate .So who is a chairman to them ..just a man on the chair ....

The woman's reservation bill is one ,that I sincerely believe, will never go through parliament .Even if it does, all those who enter through those reservations will be wives , daughters ,grand daughters and daughters- in- law of existing netas.So as party after party shifts blame they all know that the bill will mostly remain what it always was ... just a bill ...So whether the bill was debated or whether they voted is not something I am seriously concerned with .

I am ,within my short memory trying to look for a date on which the parliament was allowed to function .As far as I can recall ,nowhere in the recent past has the esteemed house able to function without the hoologanism that has come to characterise its members.Day after day we see members rushing to the well ,shouting slogans and in the chair the Speaker sits and pleads that they let the house function and in an act of final desperation adjourns the house .Business in parliament has become synonymous with no action and all noise.

If I am right ,it was in the days of Rajiv Gandhi that the ruling Congress formed an official "shouting brigade ",as it was nicknamed in the press, with the irrepressible Mani Shankar Aiyer at it head .Their only duty was to shout whenever an opposition member spoke low of the Govt .All other parties which have seriously simulated the Congress in factionism and what not have also incorporated into their own systems ,their own shouting brigades .With all parties letting loose their own version of it how can any work go on ?

Every newspaper carries articles on how much money is wasted when the house does not function and how politicians are demeaning democracy and so forth .All these unfortunately do not remedy the situation or take us anywhere near the solution .With television channels becoming the new age image makers or breakers ,we cannot blame our netas for not foregoing their chance on primetime .After all there is no business like show business..........

Nithiyananda

Everyday I want to write about this and then everyday I restrain myself.What has been left to say ?I wonder.Has not enough and more been written on the Revered Swami's now very famous video which must be inspiring to scores of his followers and to some I must say disappointingly mundane .

Inspiring I guess to know that the Swami is not wholly divine but has ascended to divinity through mortal means and disappointing to those who staunchly believed that he has attained divinity and thence bid goodbye to the more mortal itches .So far so good.I personally think there is nothing more to be learned from this episode than that boys will be boys and girls will be girls ..

The more intriguing answers lie in those to the questions of who did the picturisation and why ..Let us not forget that the Sun is a media meganame and political meganame too .Did it place the highest bid or did it finance the entire sting? operation .On both accounts the question remains WHY ?Did we really need the video to tell us that most Godmen have sex ?Are'nt Godmen in the news for all kinds of reasons stretching from politics ,murder,abuse and rarely Godliness ?

Already tales are around about a real estate angle ,sibling rivalry and the yarn runs so forth .I am sure that there is more to this than merely meets the eye and what the mind does not know ,the eyes do not see and so we can rest assured that we might really never get to the bare facts .Until then happy viewing...