the best mysteries of Isaac Asimov

Isaac Asimov is known the world over as the maestro of science fiction. Not surprisingly, because along with Arthur Clarke, it was he who was instrumental in cementing the roots of the science fiction that we know today. Science fiction had existed before, in the ambitious works of Jules Verne and H G Wells, many of which continue to awe us today owing to their sheer clairvoyance, but in recent times the mainstream popularity of the genre was solely owing to names like Asimov and Clarke. Asimov with his epic Foundation series and ground breaking Robot stories, and Clarke, with his Rama saga and series of Space Odysseys, formed a cult following that has flourished, and continue to grow till date.

This post is however not about Asimov, nor is it about science fiction. Curiously, little known to many, Asimov wrote a host of mystery-thriller stories as well. They were written for newspapers and magazines more so than as part of his full time authorship.

The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov is the definitive compilation that contains every single mystery story ever written by the master. The book is divided into three sections.

Stories in the first, dubbed the ‘Black Widower Mysteries’ are all set at the Black Widowers’ Club, a certain stag club, whose members are all elitist upper class Americans. Each story revolves around a meeting of the members of the club where one member brings a guest who has a peculiar predicament. The solution to the predicament and the lead-up to the solution forms the bulk of the story, and it is inevitably arrived at by Henry, unarguably, the most immaculate butler in the history of English literature, second only to Jeeves, (and maybe, Nestor? Umm. Nah.). The solution is, needless to say, sheer genius, and blows your mind. One is compelled to make colon Os and drop their jaws in sheer amazement and wonder at the ingenuity of the plot.

The stories in the second section, dubbed the ‘Union Club Mysteries’ are equally mind-boggling pieces of art. Here, the protagonist is a certain Griswold, a wizened old man, who lays slumped in one armchair, raising his voice to make himself heard, and to tell long tales that seem to make no sense, till the end, where his tale perfectly fits into the current situation and produces an amazing solution to whatever problem the members have at hand.

The third section consists of miscellaneous mysteries that don’t fall in either of the aforementioned sections. These vary in length, plot complexity, but are invariably those wherein the protagonist rarely gets off the chair he’s seated in, or moves out of the room where he is.

The thirty-one stories in this book, are better read than talked about. They add a new dimension to the stereotype that the thriller genre has grown to become, and immediately dispenses the myth that thrillers must have action and violence to thrill the reader. The stories are superlative from the literary point of view, and are sheer intellectual masterpieces; there’s one story about the mysterious psychic powers of a little girl; another one where the secret to a young man’s happiness lies in cracking a cryptogram; yet another where the solution to a puzzle is one number out of one million possible combinations. and yet another where the solution lies in reading a road sign with your head tilted. Moreover, each of the stories, has a lively commentary and an introduction, written by Asimov himself which adds a nice personal touch too.

Insanely arbitrary, outrightly outrageous at times, yet logically, absolutely sound and air-tight, these thirty one riddling tales form a compendium that any hardcore Asimov fan would treasure, and any book lover would love to add to his collection.

Not the sort of book you’d want to borrow from the library, or from a friend for that matter. Instead, the sort that you would want to shell out money for, and possess for eternity.

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You might want to read this too.

on Ayrton Senna

My thoughts entirely with this name today. After a certain documentary I watched last night.

I had heard a lot about him. How he would have gone on to become the greatest ever in the blitzkrieg world of formula 1 had destiny been but a bit more rewarding. Little did I know that well before the disaster at Imola which claimed his life, Ayrton Senna had established his name as the greatest already.

He didn’t have the statistics on paper. He had raced for 10 years and had won 3 championships. Juan Maunel Fangio (with 5) and later on, Michael Schumacher (with 7) would go on to become the greatest F-1 racer of all time, but the ones who know the sport, tell a different story.

Ayrton Senna’s greatness laid, not on paper, but on the sheer way he drove. Formula One experts including Schumacher himself have openly admitted that a driver like Senna, has not, does not and will not exist in motor-sport history.

The documentary I saw yesterday was all about what exactly made him all that great. Martin Brundle, an F-1 great, who had raced alongside this genius went into details about his driving style which he considered would give enough reasons to consider him the “ultimate driver’s driver”.

Speed
Senna was not just a fast driver. He was just the fastest driver one could race against. While others would set lap-records and fastest times with a margin of a few tenths of a second from the existing record, Senna would settle for no less than a whole second or at least three-quarters of second. “He had this God gifted talent,” as Brundle put it, “a sixth sense, which gave him full knowledge of where in the track the grip would be before he went into a corner. The moment you see him do a lap, you’re bound to say, “I can’t do that.” As simple as that.” He was known to drive completely on the limit and set some of the most blistering lap times in his ten year career. “He used to emerge out of corners and overtake a whole lot of other drivers with the most consummate ease. Other drivers wouldn’t even have him in their mirrors a few seconds back, but suddenly .. poof! He’s gone past them.” The fact that he won 65 pole positions in 162 races when pitched against Schumacher’s 68 pole-positions in 269 races more than cements him as the speed overlord. His qualifying greatness reached it’s epitome in Monaco 1988, when he out-qualified his arch-rival and team mate Alain Prost by a staggering 1.5 seconds. Brundle recollects that “Nobody in the end wanted to spoil Senna’s pole lap. When the day-glow McLaren and the very bright helmet of Ayrton Senna would come through, we’d literally jump out of the way. You didn’t one to be the one who’d blown the lap of the one everybody was talking about, the lap that entire Grand Prix venue was looking forward to.”

Senna in his epic McLaren in Canada 1988

Attention to detail
It wasn’t just speed that made Senna what he was. As David Coulthard, yet another F-1 legend who started off as Senna’s test-driver recollects his dedication.”A certain test session when he (Senna) had tweaked his neck, and that was it. Test was over that day but as far as he was concerned, “I recommend the following day” and he was there the following day! In the morning I thought that … OK .. he must have made a miraculous recovery … but no, he was just there to listen to what I was telling the engineers. So that he could trust my feedback.” I mean other people whom I’ve been test driver for would just listen to the lap-times and bugger off to the golf course!”

Ruthlessness

one of the numerous corners Senna (in the red and white McLaren) aced

Yet another and one of his best wielded weapons, was his utter ruthlessness. As Brundle explains, Senna would often put them (his rivals) in a position where you’d have an accident and he would leave it up to you to decide whether you wanted it or not. If you let him through, you wouldn’t have the accident, if you did not, you would. During a certain Formula 3 race, Brundle says, “he suddenly came up from behind me and before I knew it, his car was upon mine.” He would always put his rivals in a compromising position at every corner, and wage this psychological warfare every single time. You would either run into him, which would mean, your race is over, or you would lose this mind game. And   if you did run into him, he would ensure that the next time such a scenario repeated you would jump out of his way. He was easily the toughest driver, and the most ferocious driver to protect his area of space. His ruthlessness and will to win reached the peak in the Japanese Grand Prix of 1990, when he would emerge world champion of the season provided his arch-rival Alain Prost (now racing for Ferrari) failed to finish the race. This makes for a throughly gripping tale.

Senna and Prost were 1-2 on the starting grid respectively. Senna’s McLaren however was on the dirtier side of the track and despite his asking the officials to change the side they hadn’t. No sooner had the race been flagged off than Prost’s scarlet Ferrari took lead ahead of Senna’s McLaren. And for Senna to win the world-title, Prost would have to not finish the race.

Barely had ten seconds gone when the first corner came up. And Prost went into the corner ahead of Senna. But Senna accelerated through the corner reaching a speed of 270 kilometres an hour, without even bothering to brake, as the gap between his and Prost’s car disappeared. Suddenly Senna’s front left tire had hit Prost’s rear end. And Prost’s rear wing fell off as both cars skidded off into the turf.

In the very first corner of the very first lap Senna thus made sure that Prost indeed failed to finish and secured the world title for himself.

Senna’s McLaren hits Prost’s Ferrari

and the state a few seconds after … Senna, secured with his Championship title

Prost was so disgusted with the turn of events that he publicly slammed Senna’s tactics and even considered retiring from F-1. After the crash Senna however showed absolutely no remorse for what he done. “When there is a gap,” Senna said later, “you either permit yourself as a professional racing driver who is designed to win races, or you come second or you come third or you come fifth. And I am not designed to come third, fourth or fifth. I race to win.”

Senna’s aggressiveness; his ruthlessness can be well summed up in his own words. “If you no longer go for a gap which doesn’t exist … well, you are no longer a racing driver.”

Strangely however, Senna had a heart of gold. A devout Christian he was capable of incredible compassion. When in Spa 1992 his rival Érik Comas had a fatal crash, Senna stopped his car, leapt out, stopped Comas’ engine and held his head in a comfortable position before doctors arrived. An incident which made Comas retire from F-1 after his inability to help Senna after his life claiming crash.

Senna parks his car and runs to help Erik Comas

This paradox in Senna’s behavior shows that he was an incredible human being. He would donate for his  poor children in his country Brazil. he would help his rivals out of difficult situations. He was morally broken when Ratenberger died the night before he died. But then it was the same Ayrton Senna who would crash Prost’s car out of a race, putting both their lives at risk.

The Wet Weather Master
What really set apart Senna, all the more from other F-1 drivers was his driving wizardry when it rained. Referred to as “the Wet Weather Master” by commentators, his driving prowess would really come in the limelight in such circumstances.

Senna mastered the art of wet-weather driving

Donnington Park, 1993. The track was wet and it was drizzling. Senna was having trouble keeping up in his inferior McLaren from the beginning. He had dropped to fifth position when a new lap had begun, behind the likes of Michael Schumacher, Damon Hill and Alain Prost. A couple of corners later, he had muscled his way to third. And yet another couple of corners later Alain Prost was eating his tire marks and Senna was leading the race, which he went on to win. This historic lap, which saw Senna taking the lead within a half of a lap of running fifth, established him as an all time great wet weather driver. After the race he said that the driving pressure in such conditions is tremendous and it’s like gambling; taking chances where it might pay off. And that his team gambled well that day.

The cars back then
Senna gambled. Senna gambled in cars which were like untamed wild beasts. Racing regulations weren’t as stringent then as they are today, and Senna belonged to the era of F-1 when cars had turbochargers (needless to say, they are illegal in F-1 now); he belonged to the age of Formula -1 when cars produced 1200 horsepower, which was a mind-boggling 450 more than an F-1 car of today. Inferior aerodynamics back then, as compared to today, ensured that cars had a lot less down-force and was at higher risks of flying off. Also safety levels were far worse which made Senna’s job all the more difficult.

Senna’s epic McLaren Honda MP-4/4 : the machine in which he won eight races in one season and his first world championship title

Yet Senna aced. He drove on the edge without a care in the world. He drove to win. Which he did. And would have won more had he been luckier.

Imola, San Marino 1994.

An event already riddled by disasters. Ratenberger’s death the night before the final race had shaken the entire F-1 community. The night before that, a serious accident involving Senna’s protégé, Rubens Barichello had broken Senna down, all the more. The final race as well, was plagued by misfortune. It was interrupted in the very beginning when J J Lehtto’s Benetton-Ford had stalled, and Pedro Lammy’s Lotus-Mugen Honda had rammed into his rear at nearly full speed. A wheel tore off and flew into the grandstands, injuring eight spectators and a police officer. The race went into yellow flag, and the safety car, which was on Opel Vectra for that year, was deployed. The slow pace maintained by the Vectra was later questioned and suspected for the lower-than-normal tire pressure in the race cars.

When the race restarted, Senna immediately shot off and set the third-fastest lap of the race, followed closely by Schumacher. In the next lap, as Senna approached the super-fast Tamburello corner, his car left the track …

That would go down in his history as the last corner he ever took, and the first one, he never came out of. Alive.

… his Williams ploughed into the concrete wall in excess of 215 kilometres an hour.

His right front wheel had broken off and shot through into his cockpit, hitting his helmet and pushing his head against his head rest. A piece of upright, attached to the wheel had penetrated his helmet made a big indent in his forehead, and a jagged piece of the upright had penetrated his visor just above his right eye.

He died almost immediately owing to fatal skull fracture. Track officials, upon investigation found a furled Austrian flag in his cockpit, which he had planned on unfurling and waving in honour of Ratenberger in the event of his winning the race.

Senna’s Williams at the moment of impact

The cause of his accident, as later revealed was steering column failure which had resulted in this fatal under-steer (what happens when you turn your steering wheel, but the wheels don’t turn). Patrick Head, of team Williams, who had been responsible for the “bad-design and badly executed modifications” of Senna’s steering column, was proven guilty of omitted control by the Italian Court of Appeal on 13th April 2007.

His death at Imola, San Marino was probably the greatest tragedy in the history of motor-sports. Brazil declared a national holiday in honour of their greatest sportsman and set aside three days for mourning. Three million people lined up to see his funeral march and offer salute to their hero.

Senna’s funeral saw many F-1 greats participating. Including his arch rivals Alain Prost and Damon Hill

His grave bears the epitaph “Nada pode me separar do amor de Deus” which means “Nothing can separate me from the love of God”.

To you, Ayrton Senna. Never was. Never will be.

an enjoyable book

Among the various things I enjoy, one of the foremost of them is reading books … or better, it was reading books. Until recently this habit had almost become extinct owing to a lethal combination of superhuman study pressure, and lack of time, so the day my ISC exams got over I made a dash from my school for the Elgin Road Crossword store, and to my delight found a couple of books that seemed … just right for me. One was Vikas Swarup’s ‘Q & A’, the novel on which the Oscar winning ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is based, and the other was ‘Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman!’ a collection of stories taken from the life of one of the greatest theoretical physicists, Richard P Feynman of the 20th century. Now, whatever my ISC marks may say, I’m honestly good at physics, and I love that subject owing to its complicated simplicity (After all, which other subject can explain why other subjects exist?), and hence am rather inclined towards books that deal in the same.

And if you are still wondering which of the two books this post points at, its the latter.

Now ‘Surely you’re joking Mr. Feynman’ is not a book on science. What I mean is, its not full of pages fraught with high sounding scientific jargon, and particle accelerators, or anti-matter, or string theory or … the stuff you find in Stephen Hawkin’s books, nor is it made intimidating by the inclusion of weird symbols, or incomprehensible equations like Roger Penrose’s stuff. Rather this is a book on the action-packed life of one of the most interesting persons of the previous century, how he grew up tinkering with radios … “fixing radios by thinking” , getting into all sorts of mischief in college, removing doors from dormitories, graduation form MIT, and then Princeton. If you are wondering that this is just boring autobiographical stuff, then let me tell you, that you are eating the rotten end of the papaya (HEY, that’s an idiom I created right now!!!).

The book makes for a thoroughly enjoyable read, but yup, there’s no simple way to prove it. All you have is my word, that money spent in this book won’t be mis-spent. It had me in stitches in every chapter, and I’m sure that you, whether you like science or not, will find this to be one of the most hilarious reads ever. It gives, not only an alternative insight into one of the greatest minds of the last century, but also shows how this great man, had his quota of fun, be it in the form of bashing up goons in a toilet in a bar, or being drunk to the last cell of his body and trying to impress the damsels around him. 

to wrap it up, one heck of a read.

The Queen of Crime

The world of detective fiction, may have been enriched by various authors from all over the world, but Agatha Christie sure stays apart with head held high. Thanks to her massive collection of intriguing mysteries, each of which keep the engrossed reader mystified till the last line, she can safely contend for the ‘Braniest Lady of the Century Award’, and win it.

Wow. This is one lady who has indeed given gentlemen of the type Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a run for their money… seriously. Personally I have an inclination towards Christie’s books, than Doyle’s, which might be due to the fact that I have read a lot more Christies, than Doyles. But the few Doyles I’ve read, I have seriously been bored, and to say the least, dissapointed by them. Events seem to proceed rather slowly and the language seems a bit too archaic. On the other hand, Christie is a lot more enjoyable and gripping.

However, tables in my mind seem to be turning against Christie now. The reason ? Here goes:

I have literally poured over Agatha Christie books in the past 2-3 years… Hercule Poirot, Tommy and Tuppence, Miss Marple… and the other miscellaneous stuff, but there is always, one striking similarity in all of her books, and I emphasize all. If you have been an avid fan of Christie, and have read some of her books, you would have noticed, that whatever the story may start out as, it keeps winding back to the same old setting. 10 suspects, 1 detctive. 1 of them seems to be the culprit. 3 others seem to be the most innocent. At the end, it is the THE most innocent of the three most innocent who is the criminal. In fact, those who have read ‘And Then They Were None’, will recollect, how a person who “appeared” to be dead was the criminal at the end. Added to that, the one whom you would have bet your life on, to be the culprit, would actually, turn out to be the most innocent. Getting muddled up ? Sorry, it is supposed to be muddling. And here’s one more hint, to catch the criminal before the person is revealed: the new character who is inroduced at the very beggining, before all other characters, is generally the culprit. This happened in ‘The Unexpected Guest’, ‘And Then They Were None’, ‘Black Coffee’, ‘Death by the Nile’, ‘One, Two, Buckle My Shoe’, and some others.

At the end however, it is Christie herself, who reigns supreme. Those who have read ‘Murder In the Orient Express’, or ‘The Witness to the Prosecution’, will know why. Only Christie could have come with marvels like that.

Whatever it may be, she still is the ‘Queen of Crime’.

K for… KK!!!

A short quiz:
Q1. Who is the best play-back singer in Bollywood today?
Q2. Who is the artist with the maximum number of hits today?
Q3. Who is the one whose voice can be heard today on any popular radio station?
Q4. Who is the one playback singer whose hits remain in all top 10 music lists all over the country?

The answer to all these questions is simple, and not to forget, rather short. It is indeed KK we are talking about. The one and only KK, whose full name happens to be Krishna Kumar Menon. To cut a long story short, and to make up for my overtly precocious previous blog post, heres something to calm down my detractors.

Coming back to KK. Born in Kerala, 23rd August, 1970, he entered the world of playback singing in 1996 with ‘Chode aaye hum’ in the film Maachis. His voice came as a breath of fresh air amidst those of stalwarts of the type, Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, and Sonu Nigam. It was mature, new age, and most importantly, enchantingly melodious. He struck a chord throughout the country, with his singing abilities, and hasn’t looked back since.

However his career went into proper rolling, with his debut album Pal, wherin the title track, enthused the country, and KK was soon one the one whose voice, people were all craving for. Back in Bollywood, he set the charts ablaze, with his ‘Tu aashique hai’ from Jhankaar Beats, and the smash hit ‘Dus Bahaane’ with Shaan. More hits follwed. ‘Awarapan banjarapan’ from Jism also topped all hit song lists, and this was proceeded by ‘It’s the time to Disco’ from ‘Kal ho na ho’.

KK has definitely got himself going with the tides, the times, and the ups and downs of the music industry in India. Drifting from Hindi, he also sung for Tamil, and Telegu films.

In the last two years, he added more than 50 musical classics to Bollywood. Amongst these, the ones that have definitely rocked the charts are ‘Tuhi meri shab hai’ from ‘Gangster’, ‘Kya Mujhe Pyaar hai’ from ‘Woh lamhe’, ‘Alvida’ and ‘O meri jaan’ from ‘Life in a … metro’, and ‘Ab toh forever’ form ‘Tara Rum Pum’. And of course, not to forget ‘Ajab si’ from ‘Om Shanti Om’, ‘Labon ko’ from Bhool Bhulaiya, ‘Beetein Lamhe’ from ‘the train’…. well …the list is endless!!!

Not only this. KK was also nominated the best male playback singer, for ‘Ajab Si’, ‘Dus Bahaane’, ‘Tu aashique hai’, ‘Awarapan Banjarapan’, and ‘Bardasht’. He also recieved a major national award for ‘Tu aashique hai’ in 2003.

KK has, is, and will rock the music industry for years and possibly decades to come. He has not only cemented his place, in Bollywood, but has also proved with his voice, that he is indeed, one of the most talented vocalists, India has ever produced.