The Litigators - My Review

It comes as no wonder that John Grisham's new book has quickly gone on to the top of the charts. Grisham has been the master of the Legal genre for so many years now, and he's inspired a whole new generation of writers in his chosen genre.

But then it must be tough with those astronomical expectations! You can only come up trumps with a certain plot so many times. And Grisham has done it a dozen times already - the plot of the underdog lawyer (usually a rookie with no trial experience) taking on a giant corporation with millions in legal fees, and coming up on top, has been badgered to death. We all love the underdog. Stories with underdogs coming up on top have been on bestseller lists for centuries now, and the trend will be around for the rest of time.

Grisham has a similar story here yet again, and as is his trademark, does justice to it. But a certain storyline can only be beaten to death so many times! In spite of a different 'treatment' the plot is so transparent that you know exactly what happens at the end of the book.

In the plot, there's David Zinc (yes, strange name!) who's completed 5 years pushing paper at a multi billion dollar law firm, and cracks one day with the pressure. After some very unique happenings, he stumbles on into the firm of Figg and Finley, who must be the two most incompetent lawyers in the greater Chicago area. The rest is history - Zinc stumbles into court, leads his firm into some money, and the book ends with him setting up on his own and becoming a champion for the under-privileged.

But then, all is not lost. Grisham is back to writing legal thrillers after a while now - he's written two Youth Fiction books in between (The Theodore Boone series), and one legal book which followed a real story (The Innocent Man). So it is nice to see the master back in his flow. There is nothing wrong with the book - it is a great read. The problem probably is with me - i've read too many novelists in this genre - Michael Connelly, Steve Martini, and many more. So I've become a cynic now!

Another good thing about the novel is the way Grisham takes us through the motions. It is good to see the champion of the legal genre back in the driver's seat once again, and if you're new to reading Grisham, you'll love this book - much like aficionados will remember staying riveted while reading The Firm, The Rainmaker, and The Client.

Go on, Grisham! Don't move away from mainstream legal thrillers just yet. Keep dishing them out, and we'll keep lapping them up :)

Passport 2.0

Getting a passport was a nightmare! 

Anyone who's applied for a Passport from Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, knows the terrific experience one goes through :)

But then, last month, when I went for a renewal of my passport, I encountered something different! (or I was probably drunk beyond approach)

• After applying online and submitting details of the original documents, I was given a time slot and a number online itself. 
• I was asked to go at 9 am, but I went at 1 pm, but was politely asked to rush in! All it took was a form (available over the counter at payment of Re. 1/-) citing the reason for delay.
• At the counter, all documents were verified by smartly dressed young people (with badges of The Tata Consultancy Services - who are the outsourcing partners of the Passport process) who spoke flawless English, and were polite!!!
• The number I was allotted was already flashing on the screen, and I was asked to head over to the next section (took about 5 mins at the verification department)
• There were a row of cubicles, each with a smart young lady (!) - again bearing the TCS logo, and my number was already up on one of these cubicles. There was a split screen computer - so we can see what's happening on the service associate's screen, and a Camera popped up on a stand on the table.
• After running all documents, making me go through all details carefully, and taking a photo (she even asked if I liked the photo or she'd take another!), and scanning all documents, she gave me a file, a few more printouts and sent me over to the next section. There was a challan of 1000/- charged at the counter and receipt duly issued.
• When I was short of a few photocopies, the lady at the desk even scanned and copied them out for me on her machine! (I then realized that this is all a dream.)
• A wait of about 10 mins in a comfortable, air-conditioned area with music (!) playing in the background, and I finally saw the man - an employee of the Ministry - beckoning me over for verification. But strangely, even he wasn't rude! (There must be something wrong!!) And Blimey - he called me 'sir'!
• Another 5 mins, and the Passport Officer called me in for a final check-over, and sent me out to the exit desk
• At the exit desk, my file was taken in, and an acknowledgement was being generated. While I waited, the young man in the counter gave me a feedback form to fill (I've run out of emotions by now).
• He then gave me an acknowledgement and wished me a good day (phew!)

But that's not all!

Two weeks after this dream, I get a call from the police asking for a time when he can come home for verification. He even says that he can come back the next morning if I can't come home now (By now, i'm certain I'm hallucinating). To avoid spoiling the dream run, I rushed home, and a formally dressed man was already waiting for me. After documentation and verification, he said - hold your horses - 'Thank you Sir'! There's more - he refused my offer of water, tea, juice, and shook my hand and left. If you're an Indian, you would have noticed already that there's an event that I missed out. But no - he neither hinted nor asked for any 'formality'! Spectacular, huh?

And last night - 5 days after verification, I received an SMS (!) from the Ministry of External Affairs with my new passport number, and the fact that it had already been despatched by Speed Post, and the message even gave the docket number of Speed Post if I'd like to track it.

Ok, enough of poking fun. Honestly, the experience has been delightful - to say the least. All through, there is a website and a helpline (toll-free) which can be used to track the status of the passport and to raise any grievances. The system ran like greased lightning, and in under a month, a new passport is on its way home (hopefully the Postal department won't spoil the party). 

If this is what can be achieved through a Public-Private partnership, I just pray for the day when all of our rotten systems will head that way. But for now, Ministry of External Affairs and Tata Consultancy Services, Take a bow! You've brought us a vision of what it's like to live in a 'developed' country!

The wane of Social Networking

Everything in life waxes and wanes. And Social Networking is no exception too. But strangely, the hype created isn't really over, and the wane has begun already. While there is no doubt that the phoenix will rise once again, it is surely a surprise that people have started moving away so soon.

It is a fact that FaceBook has virtually taken over our lives. Everything we do has to be informed to whoever is waiting in real time, and we reached a stage when we keep refreshing the screen to see whether there are any new likes and comments on what we had for breakfast today.

There are people who I know who've already taken their profiles off Facebook (and everything else too), and that was when I realized that there is a feature on FB, which allows you to hide your profile for a while, and then whenever we wish to come back into the world, we just need to click and confirm.

So it is a thought out move from FB too - they've expected that people will come and go, and they're bang on target - intelligent R&D! Social Networking has an uncanny ability of dragging the most introverted individual into its charms, and their lives are never the same ever again.

After a couple of years of being in a Big Boss house, people are bound to get fed up! Privacy suddenly rears its head and announces with a vengeance that it is time to shut up and sit tight for a while, and that probably is what's happening right now. 

For many people, being on FaceBook and Twitter means it is mandatory that they voice their opinion, though they don't really have one. That is why we see so many tweets from eccentric people like Ram Gopal Varma (#RGVZoomin)! Being silent online is even more difficult than being silent in real life :)

The good thing about getting away from Social websites is the time will be spent pursuing other interests - reading books (the real ones), playing games, getting out of the house, or even watching TV! 

But then, this change is cyclic too - a few people will reclaim their lives - albeit temporarily - and others will step in, and then they'll interchange positions after a while. The gap is bound to make the people miss online interaction, and they'll find it to be even more rewarding the next time they come along.

Anyway, the face of Social Networking is changing. Anna Hazare will bear testimony to that, as will the Egyptian revolution - both of which are unthinkable without FaceBook and Twitter. 

So the next time you feel your online social life is taking over your real one, just step back, deactivate your account temporarily, and enjoy the calm! It is absolutely acceptable to do so, and when you come back, your coolness factor will only rise ;)

Anatomy of a Debacle

In hindsight, everyone is a certified genius. It is quite easy to analyse something gone past, and this post is no different. However, if we don't atleast do that, when will we learn? And when will we prod and wake our slumbering elephant?

The AMRI hospital debacle at Kolkata is no different. A few days ago, 7 of the directors - all pillars of the Kolkata business community - have been put in prison, and the hospital has been sealed. One of the key promoters was the Emami family, which is in the process of investing 300 crores to set up a network of hospitals across the country. No prizes for guessing the status of that proposal now. 

How do you hold people accountable for a tragedy like that? How is putting people in prison a closure for what happened? 

In the movie Aparichitudu (Aparchit in Hindi, Anniyan in Tamil), the protagonist wants to file cases on a bunch of government officials for being negligent, leading to the death of his sister by electrocution. Though the solution may sound crazy, doesn't it have a semblance of logic in it? When Niira Radia started singing, who is who of the Indian Telecom industry fell from their perches and landed up in Tihar. A few of them are still there too. That is hindsight too, isn't it?

The real question of this blog post is about why our people stretch the rope to see how much it can bear before it breaks. Each of us does it, and it is an accepted way of life for us. We keep pulling and using the rope till it finally snaps and we land on our backs. Radia did the same thing, as did Ramalinga Raju, and now the AMRI gang. Reddys in Bellary did the same thing, as did Modi of the IPL. But the strange thing is that there are hundreds of such cases in the works, and they are all out in the public. Why is there no mechanism to act on them before they become full-fledged tragedies?

As in the AMRI hospital, there are thousands of buildings filled with people all over the country, where the fire prevention measures are virtually non-existent. How many movie theatres do we have functioning fire fighting in? Millions of buildings don't even have fire exit plans. The same discussion can be had with every other complaint - provision for parking, backup emergency services, and so on. And we know it too. Most of us reading this post work in a building that works the same way.

There is a wonderful statement that Vijay Mallya made a week ago - he remarked that half the aviation journalists in the country would be out of a job if KingFisher Airlines got out of trouble! Though he made the remark with loads of frustration, there is truth in it. We are fed a staple diet of 24/7 news, and news gets outdated 24 hours later. We don't remember the airplane skidding off the runway in Mangalore, and we don't remember the last train accident. We don't remember 26/11 and the fact that it could happen to us in our nearby train station. That is why bomb detectors are just for display, and additional security personnel are just for VIP movement.

But I don't have a solution for it. Like the first line says, in hindsight, we're all geniuses. 

The era of fear!

Why are we so afraid of everything? So many fears, so many insecurities! With so much of technology at our disposal, if we are so worried, how were our ancestors living? If we take a comparison, they should have been positively terrified!!

We have a mobile phone for every member of the family, and yet we are so worried about them - 5 minutes don't go by without us getting a phone if we are delayed somewhere! We were having dinner at a truckstop Dhaba a few days ago, and every single truck driver - there were a dozen or so - was on his mobile phone. Whether they were chatting with their families or with their agents, they were constantly chattering, and that made me wonder - what were they doing a few years ago when there were no mobile phones? They go out for months at a time, and there was hardly any contact with their family! Today, we abhor silence. We have forgotten living with ourselves - thanks to the fear epidemic!

We have security guards posted at apartments and we live in gated communities, yet we don't send the kids out for a little while to play. Are we afraid of the unknown because it is in the dark or are we afraid of it because we doubt our ability handle it? We are way more empowered than the people who lived on earth before us, and yet we are no where close to their level of relaxedness. The more we have, the lesser we sleep. There has to be something wrong there, right?

We are afraid of infections, insects, animals, atheists, technology, travelling, death, disasters, fire, freaks, and this list can go on and on. We are afraid of people in the family, of neighbours, of strangers, and of god! Where will this end? As children we are told (and quite seriously) that the darkness is our enemy and that the bogeyman will take us away if we don't do everything that is told to us. As we grow, we develop our own fortresses to keep the bogeyman out, and finally we realize that there are no exceptions! With age, we even fear our own body's inability to compete, and finally we die afraid.
Is this part of evolution too? We know that the Western world is quite afraid. They earlier turned to the East for solace. Today, China and India are more worried than the rest of the world put together! If Africa steals our livelihood, we've had it! Woolly Mammoths became wild elephants, and from there, they've turned docile enough to pick a rupee from the hands of a kid and give him a smack on the head in the form of a blessing. It is terrified of a little stick in the hands of the mahout, and is tied with a tiny piece of rope. We've gone beyond that elephant. We tie ourselves up and put the blame on the rest of the world. Everyone else is responsible for our insecurities, and everything is a Phantom.
We go out and embrace new technology, and we are more afraid for it. It is like the proverbial shoes being left outside a temple. Every possession increases our fear level, while actually they are meant to keep us safer. Ever new child entering the family, along with joy, brings in unknown fears. When we watch Discovery TV, we see that animals can sniff out fear. Actually, humans can sniff fear too. But tragically, we grow off them. We consume others' fear with glee. Strangely, that fear doesn't make us braver. The one who thrives the most on other people's insecurities is the one most afraid!
And this fear comes out in the form of Anger. No wonder everyone we look at on the street (and at home) is angry most of the time on most things. It is a fact that we are becoming more brittle and weak as generations pass. Is this nature's way of keeping us safe?

The Fifth Witness - My Review

This is probably the third or fourth novel of Michael Connelly that i'm reading, and this guy is truly a master of the courtroom drama. I actually started reading Connelly because I had run out of Grisham books, and the real master isn't writing that aggressively any longer. If you head over to Michael Connelly's website, you will see that he has been a real disciplined writer - since 1992, the author has churned out 25 books - which is more than a steady book a year - consistently! Not all of his books are legal thrillers, but i've still not gone beyond that genre from Connelly.

The Fifth Witness is a complicated courtroom story which has enough twists and turns to keep the reader riveted. I read this on my iPad, and it came to about 1350 pages in ePub format - so quite a lengthy book; and you'd better not start reading on a weekday evening if you have to go to work fresh the next morning.

Though we call the genre 'fiction', it never entirely is. Every single trend we see in fiction stems from happenings in the real world, and that is true in the case of legal thrillers also. Long gone are the days of Atticus Finch and How to Kill a Mockingbird, where there was a clear delineation of good and bad, and guilt was a prevalent undercurrent throughout the story. The early days of Grisham had that tinge too. However, with the advent of full time investigators, ambulance chasing defence lawyers, and politically motivated prosecutors as a mainstream part, the whole legal world has moved into shades of grey. What we have is light grey and dark grey; no more white and black.

The Fifth Witness, and its protagonist Michael Haller (the same guy from the bestseller The Lincoln Lawyer) operate entirely in that grey area, but with a solid surprise at the end. And when I say 'Solid', it really is! Makes us feel a bit sorry for the lawyer after all he does, and we appreciate his final decision too. Hopefully, Connelly will write a novel or two more with Haller in his new avatar.

Connelly has a tremendous grasp of the situations in real-world America, and weaves them beautifully into the story. Owing to a lack of business stemming from a market that's down, Haller moves onto foreclosure cases, which are a dime a dozen, etching out a decent living. As expected, one such case turns into a murder mystery, and that is what forms the crux of the novel. I'm not giving out more of the story, and I seriously recommend that you don't look up the story from elsewhere. It is worth reading.

Unlike the Lincoln Lawyer, there is no single theme running us through the story. There are a lot of factors at play here - foreclosures, politics, family complications, organized crime, and of course, a cracking time in the courtroom of Judge Perry. In fact, most of the story is set inside the courtroom, and that is great! 

I've become a fan of Connelly, and look forward to lapping up his other 20 novels I haven't read :)

The Murder of King Tut - My Review

James Patterson is seldom associated with anything other than thrillers, and rip roaring fiction, which keeps us awake late into the night, bleary eyed. So when a book titled The Murder of King Tut bears his name, it is bound to be mistook for another word play on a fictitious thriller.

But surprise! This one is for real, and is really the murder story of King Tutankhamen, who lived and ruled Egypt about 3300 years ago!

Firstly, the idea itself is quite fantastic. If a mainstream Archaeologist or History buff wrote this story, it would have been relegated to the  libraries. For James Patterson to put aside the next Alex Cross manuscript and dive into history is fabulous by itself. And you really don't know whether the book is Fiction or real History, or a Biography - Patterson mixes all his writing styles on this one. 

The book starts with a personal introduction by James Patterson, and several times in the course of the book, he brings the narrative back to first person, from his personal point of view. We see him talk about his publisher, his co-author on the book - Martin Dugard, and about the pending manuscripts on his writing desk. We also get a rare peek into the workday of this prolific word-smith.

The Murder of King Tut, is not really a fictitious story. The author would have taken a few liberties while putting together his own version of history - especially as the whole story has been picked up from staid objects like fragments of pottery and carvings on broken tomb walls, but in general, it is a well-researched report on a case that has gone cold thousands of years ago! While historians largely believe that King Tut died due to an injury suffered on a cart accident, there is a group of them who believe the child-Pharaoh was murdered, and Patterson starts there. The amount of research the authors did for the book is spectacular, and Patterson himself says so in the prologue. 

The Murder of King Tut is also the story of well-known Egyptologist Howard Carter, whose team actually found the tomb while digging through the Valley of the Kings. His story is woven with King Tut's, interspersed by Patterson's present time musings, and in all, make for great reading!

If you have any interest at all in History, you will lap up the story, as it takes us right into the twists and turns of an ancient epic. Even if you don't enjoy Egyptology (in spite of all the masala involved in their lives!), The Murder of King Tut remains a first class murder mystery - albeit with a spin. Seldom do we get a mainstream writer like James Patterson writing a story simultaneously in three times - 1500-1300 BC, the late 19th Century, and present day - all in one book!

Read it :) Not something that will keep you awake all night, but will help you appreciate the writer better. I do now.