The World We Live In!

Do you know about the sudden death of Perumal Murugan, the author? Don’t worry, the Perumal Murugan, teacher is still alive, and will continue to live. But people have killed Perumal Murugan, the Author. This is clearly a major attack on Freedom of Speech, where people have forced the author to commit suicide. It sounds confusing, so let me put some light on him.  Perumal Murugan is / was a Tamil Nadu-based writer, who has ended his writing career by announcing the death of Perumal Murugan, the author. His post, as reported by media (because I was not able to view his profile on Facebook), read, "Author Perumal Murugan is dead. Only the teacher Perumal would be alive. People could have issues with my other books, that's why I've decided to withdraw them all...I shall pay due compensation to publishers..Don't indulge in protests and let me go."

I read both part of Taranath Tantrik - City of Sorrow , and to summarize it, I can only say that I just can’t wait for the third installment. Brilliant story, keeps you gripped till the last page in both part. I will not discuss spoilers here. The story is about a Psychic Taranath Tantrik working with his friends Shankar , a CID office, Sneha , a TV journalist and   Vibhuti , a horror novelist, in an investigation, where someone is trying to change the City of Joy Kolkata into City of Sorrows.  First part shows glimpse into Taranath’s past, and cut to present day for main story to develop. The second part again shows villain’s past, and then move to current day. So, the first one introduced TnT to us, and started chain of events which makes the story. Then second part introduced the villain to us, and the story progressed.  I liked this type of storytelling, which gives you a glimpse of main character’s past, and then jumps directly to the story. Shamik Dasgupta ...

सर्दियों की वह अलसाई सुबह। ऐसा लग रहा था मानो सुबह भी देर तक सोना चाह रही हो। आकाश धीरे धीरे लाल उजाला फैलाने लगा था। मैं रात भर की अपनी नौकरी के बाद घर की ओर जा रहा था। कहने को सुबह में अलसायापन था। परंतु कुछ लोग अपने कार्यो में लग चुके थे। कही अख़बार वाले गट्ठर लेकर अपनी दुकान लगाने में जुटे थे, तो कही सफ़ाई वाले झाड़ू लेकर सड़क साफ़ कर रहे थे। मुंबई में सर्दियाँ हलकी फुलकी ही होती है। यहाँ दिल्ली वाली कड़ाके की ठंड नहीं पड़ती। फिर भी भोर में इतनी ठंड तो रहती है की आप अपने में सिमट जाए। 

आप सभी को नव वर्ष २०१५ की हार्दिक शुभकामनाएँ.  नव वर्ष के इस अवसर पर मैं अपना फेसबुक पेज तुशा आप लोगो के समक्ष रख रहा हूँ. मुझे लिखने का शौक़ हैं, परंतु कभी अपनी रचना को किसी के साथ साझा नहीं किया. गाहे बगाहे अपने ब्लॉग पर अपनी लिखी हुई कहानियाँ प्रेषित कर देता था. परंतु शायद ही किसी ने उन कहानियों को पढ़ा हो. गत वर्ष अक्टूबर के महीने में यह ख़याल आया की क्यों न फेसबुक पर एक पृष्ठ बनाया जाए, सिर्फ़ उन कहानियों के लिए. ब्लॉग पर तो कहानियों के अलावा और भी बहुत कुछ होता है. ऐसा प्रतीत हुआ की शायद मैं उन लिखे हुए शब्दों को राहत दूँगा, एक ऐसे मंच पर लाकर जहाँ बहुत से लोगो की पहुँच उन तक होगी. इससे पहले मुझे लगता था की शायद मेरा इस तरह से सभी के सामने उन कहानियों को लाना ठीक नहीं होगा. परंतु उन शब्दों में छिपे भावों को अगर मैं बंद रखता हूँ, तो यह उनके साथ अन्याय होगा. अपनी झिझक एवं शर्म को दरकिनार करते हुए यह फ़ैसला लिया गया की अब उन कहानियों को कैद में नहीं रखा जाएगा.

Why am I writing about this digital graphic novel? Two reasons, the first one is to let everyone knows about this gorgeously illustrated web comic, and the second is about my association with it. Daniel wanted if anyone can translate it in their language, to get in touch with him. I contacted him about translating it in Hindi, and got immediate go ahead from him.  I really liked the way he has managed this translation part, where various people across the world are working to translate this into their language, Daniel has created an Google Doc Spreadsheet, with first column in English, and assigned one column to each of us, for filling our language translation of that column’s caption. This is a great way of collaboration effort, using free web! Nice idea Daniel!

What is Comic Con? It’s a convention about Comics! But its not just limited about Comics! Yes, primarily its about Comics, but as we all know, that Batman, Superman, X-men, Spiderman and all these have already taken over our entertainment in a big way. They are not limited to just Comics, but are in Movies, TV series, Books, Merchandise, games and what not! Comic Con, or Comics Convention, started in San Diego way back in 1970, and still goes one as one of the biggest event every year! But hey, Comics fans are everywhere and no one can stop them to organise their own Comic Con in their cities! So, we have Comic Con happening in New York, Baltimore, London, Emerald City and more.

I have read it few months ago, and loved the book. So, why am I writing about it today? Something happened, which prompted me to write about this now, and it’s not that I read the book or any specific part again today. Infact, it’s somewhere in my house, and I don’t know where I put it after reading. So, what happened?

I am not a big fan of English fiction, have read some Tom Clancy ones earlier, but recently tried one of the English translation of my favorite Hindi thriller writer, Surendra Mohan Pathak, The 65 Lakh Heist! and loved it. Then comes Chetan Bhagat series, I tried 2 States while travelling to Mumbai on business trip, and that opened up a new frontier for me in reading. I was limited to Hindi fictions only so far, and liked the simple yet interesting writings of Indian writers. Now, after just 4 months, I have finished all Chetan Bhagat books, two of the SMP translations, and few others. Rece ntly finished The Immortals of Meluha, a 400 pager fiction about Shiva. A mix of mythology, history and fiction. This is a thriller, and first part in the Shiva trilogy. I really liked the pace of novel, as things happen very fast and you are really hocked to the book till very last page. The only downside of this book is that its not complete in its own, and you have to wait for the second part....

The Phantom  is an American adventure comic strip created by Lee Falk, also creator of Mandrake the Magician. A popular feature adapted into many forms of media, including television and film, it stars a costumed crime fighter operating from the African jungle. The series began with a daily newspaper strip on February 17, 1936, followed by a color Sunday strip on May 28, 1939; both are still running as of 2009. The strip was at the peak of its popularity read by over a hundred million people every day. If you don't know who I am talking about, this post is not for you. But if you know, read on! There are many of my friends who post Phantom Comics on their blog, so I will not repeat the same, and encourage you to visit their blog for Comics, specially now unavailable Indrajal Comics! Try finding Indrajal Comics on Google, or thy their blog search, and I am sure you can find lots of links for blogs posting Indrajal Comics. So, what am I bringing on the table? Below is the deta...

I live in Singapore, and getting hindi magazines here are rare. You won't find any on stores. The only option is to ask someone who is going to India to get few for you. So, I decided to search on Internet for online editions of the mags available in India. To my surprise, there are none available! There are so many hindi magazines available on stand in India, but there are no online edition for any of them! I do not know why! But still, I manage to chart down a list of websites which publish magazines in Hindi, exclusive on Internet. I am yet to find any site which publish Detective or Thriller stories in Hindi, if anyone knows, pls do let me know. All I was able to find is Shahitya (Literature) in Hindi. So, the stories are entertaining, but not like the Novels we get on stall in India. Here is the list of all the hindi Magazines or should I say e-zines in Hindi: Abhivyakti - Classic Hindi Magazine Arts, Culture, and Philosophy of India Anyatha - A Literary effort by Frie...