Youtube and TV 5 Monde

 I have found something I can watch finally, both on Youtube and TV. I had never thought I would ever be hooked to either. But TV 5 Monde, a French channel that I discovered last year during the first lockdown impressed me with its content. Movies, or crime investigation type serials, with subtitles. I have continued watching this many evenings, and the standard of the channel is good, and there are no ads- a great bonus.

Also, on Youtube, found a superb series made by A and E America, called Nero Wolfe. The series is based on a favourite character written by Rex Stout, an American. Archie Goodwin and Nero Wolfe are like Watson and Holmes, but very different from those two. Wolfe never steps out of his house, and asks Archie to do the running around. There is usually a dramatic end to each story, with all the dramatis personae assembled in Wolfe's house-cum-office for the murderer to be unmasked, to the accompaniment of the police in the form of Inspector Cramer, a character by himself.

These come in handy when no outside entertainment is possible. Plus points of the pandemic? Not exactly, but they help. How long can you keep watching the same stats about death, infections and shortages, after all?

In Memory of an Uncle

 He (my maternal Uncle or Mama) died a year ago, in Mumbai where he lived all his life. His flat, though small, was always welcoming to us nephews and nieces- we went there countless times for dinner, or for an overnight stay. When I applied for my student visa to the U.S. (those days, that was the done thing), I stayed with him and left early morning for the Consulate where I stood in line at 5 am, and got my visa.

He is in the pic on top, and with two of his sisters in the second. My Mom is with him at same level, and my youngest aunt (his sister again), standing.

He had got admitted into engineering college, but came back home, complaining that they didn't teach him anything new. In a manner of speaking, he was too smart for his own good. The lack of professional qualification meant that he had to settle for a clerical job, but he did not mind one bit. He was happy, he read a lot, and the credit for introducing Rex Stout to me, goes to him. I still enjoy Stout, and just bought a couple yesterday- they are hard to find, so I am happy.

He was a great conversationalist, always curious. He enjoyed his whisky, and we got offered one whenever we visited (I took the offer usually). His kids (my cousins) both did well, and are our gift to Joe Biden now. One of the many things he was famous for in the family was his love of trains. It is rumoured that he knew many Time-Tables by heart, and could recite station names in sequence too. For suburban trains and others.

A A Fair

You might not recognise the name, but this is the other name used by one of the bestselling authors. Erle Stanley Gardner, who created the criminal lawyer -Perry Mason-who escorts all his clients out of a murder rap. Clever as hell, he has an efficient secretary, Della Street, and Paul, a private detective who does the shadowing of suspects and witnesses. Typical fast-paced American murder mysteries.

The same author has created another unforgettable pair of private detectives, Bertha Cool and Donald Lam. They are as unlike each other as a strawberry and a potato, but complement each other and run a deadly agency, always coming out trumps, even in the face of obstruction from the local police in the form of Sgt. Frank Sellers. I have just been reading a couple of Cool and Lam books, and they are ..cool.

The other good pair of detectives in book form is by Rex Stout- Nero Wolfe,the orchid-loving fat, brainy guy who never stirs out of his New York home-cum-office, cooks and leaves the leg work to his assistant Archie Goodwin. Haven't found him on shelves of book stores lately, but may be available on digital sites.

Books That Have Impressed Me

The old ones are the Murakamis, and Ogilvy on Advertising, Maverick by Ricardo Semler. Umberto Eco's shorter essays are a new favourite. Comic stuff from Dave Barry or Woody Allen (he wrote too) is always welcome for an ATL (any time laugh).

Selfienomics, and The Art of Social Media (the latter by Guy Kawasaki), The 100-year-old-man who Jumped Out of a Window and Disappeared are some of the recently read books that were impressive. TED Talks by Chris Anderson was good also.

Naseeruddin Shah's autobiography, and Dev Anand's, were well-written. A biography of SD Burman that I got hold of at a concert in his honour was good, like a book about RD Burman I read earlier. I am a big fan of their music, making those reads all the more enjoyable.

This Way is Easier Dad by Harimohan, and Sreeram's Kalyug were ones from known people that I enjoyed reading. Attended the Pune launch of the former at Pagdandi, an offbeat book store.

Old favourites that I can re-read anytime are PG Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Asterix. Liked the new Sherlock based on the classic. Just started re-reading some A.A. Fair books. I like Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe as a character too, in the mystery genre. Mr. Majestic is a fun detective story about a small-time Bangalore crook that I was gifted by Meghna, and liked.

My favourite Marathi author is the humourist P. L. Deshpande. Another teenage favourite was B.R.Bhagwat, who wrote the Faster Fene books- a movie was recently made with him as a hero.

Osho's books are also highly readable, and so are some of Jaggi Vasudev. J. Krishnamurti is also an old favourite.

Agatha Christie, Mystery Books and Films

Agatha Christie was a part of growing up. I read a lot of her books. My favourite creation of hers is the Belgian with the egg-shaped head, Hercule Poirot. I also watched a few of the English films that were made based on her books. The three films I liked best were Evil Under the Sun, Death on the Nile, and Murder on the Orient Express. Naturally, they are all Hercule Poirot mysteries, with Peter Ustinov and Albert Finney playing him. I also saw a couple of films based on the Miss Marple character, but to me, she was an "inferior" detective.

The Hindi film Gumnaam was also based on And Then There Were None, written by her. It was a really good film in the suspense genre, where winners of a contest are flown to an island resort, and bumped off one by one..excellent plot. Mehmood acted really well, and the song Hum kaale hain to kya hua dilwaale hain that he sang on-screen became a rage. Other popular songs were Jaane chaman, shola badan, filmed on the lead pair of Nanda and Manoj Kumar, and Jaan pehchan ho, jeena aasaan ho, sung at the party where the contest winners are announced at the beginning.

I doubt if anyone wrote as well as her in the world of detective fiction, though I also like Rex Stout and his detective Nero Wolfe (with Archie Goodwin as the sidekick), and Perry Mason, the lawyer who solved mysteries while getting his clients off the hook (literally, as they faced murder charges). A black and white TV series starring Raymond Burr as Perry Mason was my favourite while in the U.S. in the late eighties.

The other singular author in this genre was of course, Arthur Conan Doyle. Sherlock Holmes is incomparable, as is Watson. Elementary, you say? Also filmed well in an old TV series I remember watching on DD.

Excellent In-flight Read

Returning from Kolkata yesterday, read a Rex Stout book after a long time. Gifted by a niece (the author is hard to find in bookstores), the title is "In the Best Families". A racy read, with my favorite detective, Nero Wolfe, outdoing himself in this one. He actually disappears, lock, stock and barrel, because of a challenge from a New York Don, while solving a case for a wealthy lady client. She gets bumped off, and the husband is the prime suspect.

A lot of action, most of it unexpected, keeps the pace brisk, and I managed to finish the book in two sittings- which is pretty rare these days.

Had a great alumni meet of IMT Nagpur alumni at Kolkata. The weather was unbelievable, with light showers. Also met an old alum of my own batch at IIMB, which was an unexpected bonus. Kolkata remains the same, though it seems to be heading for political upheaval, if the papers are to be believed.