Book review - Nothing is Blue by Biman Nath

I bought this book Nothing is Blue by Biman Nath while waiting at Hyderabad airport. The story - a detective story set in Nalanda caught my attention, and I felt like I had to read the book. I was not disappointed.

This is the first book of the author, who is an astrophysicist by profession, and thus in a good position comment about positions of stars, which form an important part of the story. The story is set in 7th century India and follows the life of Ananda, a student monk at the monastery of Nalanda. The other characters in the story are names which to me are the stuff of legends - Hiuen Tsang, Shilabhadra, Brahmagupta, Khona etc. It is a historical fiction, depicting on the one hand some of the problems that Buddhism had to go through to survive and on the other hand also dealing with some complex astronomical problems which probably affect the lives of Indians today also. 

It is not a murder mystery - there are no bodies dropping at regular intervals. Nevertheless, there is intrigue, suspense, secrecy, and similar ingredients in ample measure to keep the reader happy. At the beginning itself, the book itemizes the three major ideas it deals with - the visit of Hiuen Tsang during the reign of the great Indian emperor, Harshavardhana; the development of tantric Buddhism; and the suppression of mathematical calculations showing the inaccuracy of South Asian calenders. "Festival dates are now offset by almost a month."

The story of Khona, a woman astronomer in ancient India, has been nicely told in a way that I was able to identify with - having heard her name since childhood but not really knowing much about her. It is entirely plausible that she had been a victim of male egoism and her discoveries were not made public.

The writing style is simple and a continuous flow is maintained throughout the book. However, a lot of questions remain unanswered at the end. Maybe this was the author's intention, to allow the readers free use of their imagination to fill in the blanks. However, it does leave one with a mild feeling of discontent at the end of the story. A book that is definitely worth reading once.

Lindenhof - Zurich

Zurich is believed to have been founded in 15 BC by the Romans who had a customs station here which they called Turicum. This name was first discovered on a Roman child's tombstone dating back to around 200 AD. Evidence has also been found of ancient Celtic settlements, so it is still probably not sure as to who came first.

The Lindenhof hill which is part of the old town area of Zurich, rises about 25 m above the river Limmat  and is situated right beside it. The Romans probably took advantage of the height in order to build a fort there and remains of it can still be seen today. Today it is a pleasant shady park with good views of the city and the river, a flat square on top of the hill, with a lot of trees, including lime trees. There is a steep climb to reach the place, just starting off Rennweg and Strehlgasse. It is a peaceful place with a number of benches scattered around, some chess playing squares on the ground and a place to rest in between roaming around the city, or even to eat a picnic lunch.

There is a copy of the child's tombstone, which was first discovered in 1747 in the Lindenhof area. It is for the son of the head of the customs station, a boy named Lucius Aelius Urbicus who died at the age of 1 year, 5 months and 5 days. 

There is also a fountain, the Hedwig fountain, which was built in 1668 to recall the bravery of the women of  Zurich. The story goes that in 1292, Duke Albrecht von Habsburg I, had attacked Zurich while the men of the city were away doing battle in Winterthur. It is believed that the women of the city, led by Hedwig Burghalden, dressed in armour and carrying lances, stood on the walls of the Lindenhof, to successfully protect their city against this siege.

There are more Roman remains near the hill - the heating system of an ancient Roman thermal bath, which can be seen on Thermengasse. They date back more than 2000 years but were discovered recently in the 1980s.

Till next time, ciao.





photos courtesy of Flickr.com
http://flic.kr/p/5F7vs6
http://flic.kr/p/6Znr2Z
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and
wikimedia commons
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Z%C3%BCrich_-_Lindenhof_-_Grabstein_Lucius_Aelius_Urbicus_IMG_1808.JPG

Book review - Death of a Valentine by M. C. Beaton

Death of a Valentine is the 26th out of 27 books in the Hamish Macbeth Murder Mystery series by M. C. Beaton. The mysteries are set in and around the quiet village of Lochdubh in the Scotland countryside. The village policeman, Hamish Macbeth, who has a laid-back attitude to life in general, prefers to solve all murders and in general maintain peace and quiet within his beat without attracting a lot of attention to himself. He does his best to avoid any subsequent accolades or promotions as a result of his successes.

The book is written in a simple style without unnecessary turns of phrase. The mystery is a straightforward one with too many suspects so that both Hamish and the reader feel lost. However, as usual the mystery is successfully brought to a proper conclusion at the end without Hamish's bosses getting to know that he is the one to have solved the case.

There is a side-story going on all through the book which does make it a bit irritating. It deals with Hamish's junior, a new female constable, Josie, who seems to be less of a police officer and more of a matchmaker - obsessed about marrying Hamish and her future life with him. Her antics seem unbelievable at times, making up schemes which no sane woman trained to be a police officer would probably be capable of. She runs away from the job too much just like at one point she runs away while the macho Hamish rescues a lion that had escaped into the countryside.

Its a good book if you want something to finish in a day or more likely, in a couple of hours. There are a number of characters which are a continuation from the previous books in the series, but it is easy to follow them. It is less easy to follow the suspects in the investigation. Go ahead and read it, specially if you like cozy mysteries.

Fasnacht or Carnival time!

This week was time for attending two masked parades - one in Zurich and one in Basel. These parades were part of the Fasnacht celebrations all over Switzerland. Since the entire thing was new to me, I did some reading up on the internet and got some information from variousother articles and of course good old  Wikipedia.

The German word for carnival is Fasnacht. The carnival is a festive occasion which is primarily celebrated by Roman Catholics in different parts of the world and it takes place just before the start of the sombre Lent period. However, Switzerland does not restrict celebrations specifically to Catholics. Different parts of the country celebrate the festival at different times, starting as early as January and running right through February and March as well. 

The Fasnacht celebrations in Zurich started last Friday evening, 11th March and ended with a big parade on Sunday, 13th March. The parade was on Bahnhoffstrasse, starting from the lake and going up near to the main train station. When we reached, a lot of people had already gathered along with a lot of tiny witches, princesses, a small superman and a super-small frog - the children were dressed in fancy dress. The adults were sporting bright fluorescent hair that were green or pink or any other colour that one could think of with equally bright paints all over their faces and any other visible body part.

The long parade had people all dressed up in various different costumes, masked and made-up to look like witches and different, really scary creatures complete with horns and tails. They were like Halloween costumes but then it was in broad daylight and everyone was having a lot of fun. Each group had different masks and were either part of a band, playing different musical instruments or else throwing paper confetti and candy to the crowd. The idea of the costumes is probably to scare away the evil winter spirits and welcome in the warm summer days.

The Basel one was a much larger celebration. That started early in the morning but we went there in the afternoon. The celebrations there were from 14th March, 4 am to 17th March, 4am. There is a lot more confetti throwing going on there, along with other small gifts as well, like candy, oranges, bananas, small stuffed toys etc. from giant floats moving right through the crowd. The parade is not restricted to a few hours, instead the entire city goes crazy for 72 hours. Besides costumes of witches and ghosts, some of the bands also make political statements and it was also possible to spot the German Chancellor, the French Prime Minister and so on.

So this was a huge change from the normal quiet life that is Zurich or rather Switzerland. A few hours later there was no sign of celebrations anywhere in Zurich. The police had cleared away the crowd and the cleaners had swept the streets clean. Typical Swiss efficiency and life goes on as usual. Till next time, ciao.

Book Review - The Case of the Missing Servant by Tarquin Hall

The Case of the Missing Servant is the first book in the series about detective Vish Puri, India’s ‘Most Private Investigator’, by British author Tarquin Hall. The book is set in India, moving between the cities of Delhi, neighbouring Gurgaon, Jaipur and even going as far as remote tribal villages in Jharkhand. The author has lived for sometime in India and is married to an Indian-American and this helps him avoid the most obvious of clichés generally resorted to otherwise. The book is easy reading with an uncomplicated plot and some side stories all of which are resolved at the end.

This book has been unreasonably compared to the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith with probably the only similarity being that it is not set in the traditional British or American setting. The 51 year old detective dislikes being compared to Sherlock Holmes, but has a moustache that probably even Hercule Poirot would be proud of. He is trying to track down a missing servant, with the only information available to him being her first name Mary and that her skin colour is dark.

Vish Puri’s detecting skills are based a lot on use of his brains with ideas borrowed from Chanakya, a shrewd, famous economist and minister in ancient India.  However, he does not discount the use of forensics either and we are informed that India was a pioneer in this field with tools like fingerprinting, substance testing like tobacco ash comparisons, having been developed in the country. He successively uses modern technology like phone tapping etc. in order to solve his cases.

The book is enjoyable though it can get irritating sometimes. If you are looking for some light hearted, amusing reading with a few mysteries thrown in, this is definitely the book to go for.

A train station

Being an old city, Zurich naturally has a fair share of beautiful and impressive buildings which are visible at unexpected places. The train station Bahnhof Oerlikon is the nearest one to my house. There is one which is much more close by but then since it has only 2 platforms, I naturally tend to think of Oerlikon when I think of a train station. Bahnhof is the German word for station and Oerlikon is the name of the area where it is located. It has a beautiful building, which is not obvious at first glance. There are some nice floral designs and the building is shaped in an uncommon manner. It has 6 platforms, and about 110,000 people use it everyday.

There is a tram line running just outside it, tram 11, which can be used to go through the city and up to the Zurich lake, Zurisee. Its a busy street; one can always see people moving about, unlike the area I described in my previous post. On the other side of the road, there is a Starbucks coffee shop with big, comfortable sofas and huge windows. I cannot say that I am fond of Starbucks coffee but then I enjoy sitting there and indulging in people watching. Its probably something that both my husband & I have a liking for. Most of the people moving by are very busy, trying to catch a train or a tram. Others are interested in getting to the grocery shops on either side of Starbucks. There are shops belonging to both the major grocery chains in Switzerland but then I shall write about grocery shopping another time. Till then, ciao.

Note: The picture was taken from Wikimedia Commons

I remember, I remember

I remember, I remember,

The house where I was born,

The little window where the sun,

Came peeping in at morn.

                                                                         - Thomas Hood

 

Noise in Zurich? 

It is there but when I compare it to all the hustle bustle of the big, vibrant and well populated city of India where I spent most of my life - it is non-existent. 

I do enjoy it though. The scenic beauty and the peace and quiet of my residential neighbourhood is completely different - its a treat to just get out of the house sometimes and walk down the road. 

Often, the streets are deserted. The picture below was taken on a Wednesday afternoon and is a typical scene for other days of the week also.

The tree-lined road reminds me of my home town. The main road in front of the house was also lined with huge shady trees.  There was a lot of traffic on the road at all hours of the day or night. That is quite unlike this place, where most of the traffic is restricted to the peak office hours. It is easy to get used to this refreshing quietness.

I think its these minor details, similarities and differences both, which make life here a lot more easier to live. More minor details in future blogs. Till then, ciao.