Inferno - Dan Brown

Dan Brown's much awaited novel released in Singapore last week.And it was selling briskly. In all  bookstores  "Inferno" is placed at the front. Does the book worthy of the hype? i was bit disappointed by the story. I brought the book "The Divine Comedy" by Dante some months back at a book sale. Many times read the first canto but never went beyond that.Just before reading this book "Inferno" i read different cantos randomly , i was simply amazed by the detailed description of everything. But this book uses the "Inferno" texts here and there to the stories context with some minor changes or addition.

Robert Langdon is back ,this time he has to save the world from a kind of vector virus attack.did he succeed ? thats the oneliner. The story is fast paced ,despite the pace i felt bit slow at the end. Dan Brown's love for Italy and renaissance is again come to the fore in Inferno.But his phantasmagorical characters are not memorable. For Robert Langdon the clue is the below poem :

Kneel within the glided mouseion of holy wisdom,

and place thine ear to the ground,

listening for the sounds of trickling water.

Follow deep into the sunken palace

for here, in the darkness, the chthonic monster waits,

submerged in the bloodred waters..

of the lagoon that reflects no stars..

There are four groups of people in this novel who fight other for most part of the story.First , Robert Langdon , who lost his temporary memory and trying to figure out what is going on around him. second, the World Health Organization(WHO) , who are trying to find a scientist and thirdly  "Transhumanist" group and the last  'The Consortium" a powerful organization which do work for powerful men around the world.

My Inferno ... chase...

Inferno is a complex mix of science (genetics/bio chemical) and words/ codes ( text from Inferno by Dante).Like in his previous book Robert Langdon with his trademark things (Mickey mouse watch, Harris tweeds) runs mainly around Italy and latter Istanbul with a gorgeous looking girl Sienna Brooks to find the various clues .The billionaire scientist Betrand Zobrist worried about the problem of over population , he created a virus -a special kind which makes the host infertile, i.e one in three of the host will become infertile, kind of black death and planned to release it on a particular day at particular location mentioned in the above poem. He was a Dante fanatic , he used Dante's  Inferno as his main source of information.

Florence Cathedral -Il Duomo

 WHO's chief Elizabeth Sinskey persuaded Langdon to help them to find a particular location based on a cryptic glue which is a painting called "Map of Hell" by Botticelli.Langdon agreed and started his search before he was attacked.The Consortium, helps and guards Zobrist from the outside world for a year but everything went awry when Zobrist's safe box was stolen by WHO. The Consortium sent agent Vyantha to recapture the safe box's content and kill Langdon but she failed to do so, and eventually she was killed while trying to capture Langdon. But Consortium erased Langdon's short term memory which made Langdon do redo his search.

Hagia Sophia

The action goes through various historical locations and Dan Brown had given a running commentary of all the those beautiful architectures and artistry.The authors awesome research leaves one spellbound, specially me who like historical thrillers. But this novel has many  inaccuracies which i'm not aware but read in different websites. Somewhere at the end i was not at all interested to read further,in fact boring, somehow i finished the book but not excited as much as Dan Brown's previous works.  Through out reading this book, Tom Hanks face came to my mind, i hope one day , someone will make film of this story.

Boboli Gardens - Virtual tour

Hall of Geographical Maps

Basilica Cistern -Medusa 

Florence Baptistery- where Dante was baptized 

Hagia Sophia- 360 degree view 


*Pictures taken from wikipedia

The Elephant's Journey - Jose Saramago

I never heard of this book till April this year. When i went to book sales i found this book ,as if calling me to take it . I started reading when i came home and within three days(read only 1 hour per day) i finished this short novel. I laughed loudly in many places specially when Subhro talks.

This books tells the story of Solomon , the elephant's journey from Lisbon to Vienna. This story is based on the real story which happened in 1551 . It was recorded  by many people through out the history. It all started when king of Portugal Joao III decided to gift his elephant to Archduke Maximilian of Austria for his wedding. Solomon , the elephant  and mahout Subhro were brought from India to Portugal and was in the pen for two years without doing anything.They travelled totally 3500 Kilometers to reach Vienna, where the Archduke Maximilan , the future emperor of Holy Roman Empire resides.

The past is an immense area of stony ground that many people would like to drive across as if it were a motorway, while others move patiently from stone to stone, lifting each one because they need to know what lies beneath. Sometimes scorpions crawl out or centipedes, fat white caterpillars or ripe chrysalises, but it's not impossible that, at least once, an elephant might appear

  The story was laced with humor specially the conversation between Subhro and others. "Sitting astride the part of the elephant where neck meets sturdy body and wielding the stick with which he steers his mount, Subhro is about to become the second or third most important character in the story, the first being the elephant Solomon." writes Saramago .

I really enjoyed the part where the priest blesses the elephant and the corresponding conversation between Subhro and priest.Hilarious!! And the episode of Solomon kneeling before the St.Anthony of Padua church. The real story of the journey was told satirically by the master story teller.This is my first book of the great writer. In the beginning i was overwhelmed by the use of long sentences, but once i passed couple of pages, everything was perfect and really enjoyed reading the book.

The Elephant's Journey is a tale of friendship and love . Saramago explains Subhro of feeling in these final lines beautifully and it  fits to every one  :

"There'll be a lot of applause, a lot of people crowding the streets, and then they'll forget all about him. That's the law of life: Triumph and oblivion." 

Wonderful read! I will definitely read more of his work.

The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot

This is the story of Henrietta Lacks, the woman whose cells changed course  of medical science forever. The cells named HeLa (first two letters of Henrietta Lacks) was taken without her permission and used for cancer research. The important thing was that the  researchers never revealed from whom they took these cells.  Most importantly Henrietta Lacks was a black Afro-American woman. There goes the reason.

Rebecca Skloot did marvelous job by writing this book without leaning to any side and brings the truth behind the HeLa. She did ten years research and worked hand in hand with Henrietta Lacks daughter Deborah , who was main source of information from Lacks.Deborah undergone innumerable misery because of HeLa.The reporters and journalist violated the Lacks family's privacy by reporting and publishing the medical records as well as some fraud news. Deborah was a baby when her mother died. She wanted to know more about her mother but no one told anything about her specially about how she died. She along with the author started visiting all the places where they found many things about Henrietta Lacks, at the same time it also caused so much mental problem to Deborah.

None of the scientist or doctors bothered to explain the Lackses about HeLa and what they were doing with it. After the disastrous findings by one of the scientist that many cell cultures thought to be from other tissue types including breast cancer were in fact HeLa cells and he also noted that  HeLa cells could float on dust particles in the air and travel on unwashed hands and contaminate other cultures. These discoveries let some of the scientists to track down the Henrietta Lacks children and they asked the family to undergo a test for cancer.The family did not understand what was going but that was the starting.

God, I never thought I'd see my mother under a microscope -- I never dreamed this day would ever come - Deborah

Now back to Henrietta Lacks,through out the book everyone speaks high of Henrietta Lacks, woman of high hospitality.She had undergone radium therapy but nothing helped her to alleviate pain,eventually she died. Her children were taken care of by another lady who treated them very badly specially the youngest one. Skloot with the help of various family members brings the life of Henrietta Lacks alive.

Like I'm always telling my brothers, if you gonna go into history, you can't do it with a hate attitude. You got to remember, times was different - Deborah

The racial politics of medicine was told  as it happened . It was very unfortunate that till recently the Lackses did not know anything about HeLa.  The doctors did not adhered to their oath as it was not required by the  law to get patient consent about their cell research. To summarize i borrowed these words from Rebecca Skloot website :

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells a riveting story of the collision between ethics, race, and medicine; of scientific discovery and faith healing; and of a daughter consumed with questions about the mother she never knew. It’s a story inextricably connected to the dark history of experimentation on African Americans, the birth of bioethics, and the legal battles over whether we control the stuff we’re made of.

I personally suggest everyone to read this book even if you don't like tissue culture , read it for the way the author narrates the history..! We all should know this history...

Click here to check Henrietta Lacks foundation 

Smithsonian article on Henrietta Lacks

Energizer Night Trail -2013

One of my favorite races , the reason is nothing but race route and race time. This year i registered for only 12 KM. The race was flagged off exactly at 7:45PM .I prepared well for the run. Before the race i ate mixed fried rice and chicken nugget and a cup of coffee,my stomach was almost full. Normally i wont eat that much but this time something in me told to eat so i followed and it really paid off. I ran without any problem.

I took four power gel and 1 water bottle full of  H-TWO-O and a banana.I started the race briskly.I ran in a consistent pace till 5 KM . But near 5KM there was a steep slope which looked like a mountain to climb and due to previous day rain made the route wet, which made the climb very tough as well as interesting. I climbed slowly holding the robe tightly.There was a long queue of runners waiting patiently to climb over. I almost took 5 minutes to climb over.From sixth to eighth kilometer i ran briskly again.but from 9th to 10 i walked as it had many up and down slopes. The last two kilometer also took so much time for me to cross, nevertheless i finished the race without any injury and felt really good.I did  not eat any of the power gel but ate the banana after 5 KM.

I did not ran this race last year but i ran the inaugural edition, this race has grown into a big event with so many runners and families taking part in activities.Good. In one down slope  , one of the runner felt down before me which scared me but that runner continued to run and believe that he would have finish the race .I saw two visually challenged runners, i was amazed by the way the guide runner and the visually challenged runner communicating and navigating. I followed one pair for 2 kilometers, i should say they were awesome, well done guys.I overtook the first pair and met the second pair just before 11KM and i followed them till end , i did not overtook them ,just admired their precision communication.Thanks to guides and volunteers.

Very interesting experience .

Have A Little Faith - Mitch Albom

                                      "When you come to the end, that's where God begins."

One of the best book i read about faith and life. Just brilliant. Thanks to Mitch Albom for bringing this beautiful stories to the world.I bought this book sometime back ,may be six month before, but only last week i took notice of this small book and flipped some pages. When i read the first page, i was not able to stop reading, i kept on reading for 2 hours. After 2 hours i kept the book down and started to think of my faith and my attitude towards people.

“No matter which road you decide to take on your life's journey, just make sure God is an intimate part of it”

The book tells the life of two very different people -Rabbi Albert Lewis and Pastor Henry Covington. Albert Lewis from his childhood was pious and interested in helping and serving others, so he joined in seminary in second attempt.Henry Covingtong was a drug addict and convicted criminal who turned to God one night. One day Albert Lewis asked Mitch if he can write eulogy for him. That question made each other friend for next eight years till Albert Lewis death. That also made Mitch to learn many things in life specially about faith.

            "Faith is about doing. You are how you act, not just how you believe." 

This book is not about any religion , its about people who built communities based on their faith and good will.Author leaves the role of religion/faith to the reader ,he is not talking about it , he just shares his experience with these two characters.

"The secret to happiness...be satisfied and be grateful." 

"It is far more comforting to think God listens and said no, than to think that nobody's out there." 

"“Having more does not keep you from wanting more. And if you always want more - to be richer, more beautiful, more well known - you are missing the bigger picture, and I can tell you from experience, happiness will never come.”

 “"The only different between ‘marital’ and ‘martial’ is where you put the ‘I’.”

"“With a little faith, people can fix things, and they truly can change, because at that moment, you could not believe otherwise.” 

This book is sentimental with life advice .For me this book is very insightful and thought provoking .And in fact it really changed the way i accept God, renewing faith and fellow human beings . The big advantage of these kind of books are their use of simple language  and Mitch Albom is a master of it.

Rabbi Albert Lewis (The Rep) Final sermon

Henry Covington's church