The paper back power puff girl!

The invincible Power Puff Girls

Finally over a span of less than a year, I managed to finish reading the Millennium Trilogy. The trilogy is actually a set of 3 books written by a Swedish author, Steig Larsson who submitted the manuscripts and died soon they were accepted for publication. His death, at 50, due to heart attack after climbing 10 flights of stairs on a day of elevator failure is fraud with conspiracy of poisoning as he, being an investigative journalist, had exposed some individuals with Aryan supremacy activities! I managed to complete the books in midst of my daytime job and other vices like blogging and running. Most of the reading is done during toilet breaks!
The series are actually suited to adult readers as it is dealing with mature descriptive subjects. Apparently the author witnessed a rape and felt guilty of not helping the victim. Hence, in his own way, as an advocate of anti-violence against the fairer sex, he highlights the abuse of women in his stories (the Millennium Trilogy, at least).
The story centres on Michael Blomkvist, a political magazine publishing house and Lisbeth Salander (the real heroine). Blomkvist, a part-time reporter, has his warped sense of affairs with almost anyone with an XX on the sex chromosomes. Salander has to grapple with the label of mentally incompetence and the torture of her almost psychotic father and her guardian with ulterior motives. In real life, Salander is a withdrawn computer hacker with confused sexual preference.

The three books are essentially continuation of a story which can stand alone on their own. It starts (#1 The girl with the dragon tattoo) with Blomkvist getting into a mess with the Swedish legal system after publishing a false report in his magazine where he works as a part time journalist. The lead into this information was apparently fraudulent as he later found out and had to pay back by imprisonment. It is at this time, Blomkvist is employed by an eccentric conglomerate to investigate the disappearance of his niece 40years previously! High on his suspect list are the entire cast of his dysfunctional Vanger family; each with a huge closet full of dancing skeletons! From here the story goes on to dwell on myriad of topics like the Nazi, white supremacy, deviant sexual orientations and Blomkvist's varied sexual appetite. We slowly get to know of Salander's amazing clandestine cyber spying and problem solving capabilities.

In the next instalment (#2 The girl who played with fire), 2 reporters who were at the verge of exposing a high profiled international sex racket are killed. Somehow, our femme fatale is implicated in this and she goes on the run trying to prove her innocence. Salander's father and half brother who are hired assassins are involved in this imbruglio with a long story of Russian defection and Swedish secret police. The story also dwells with Salander's distorted early childhood and her subsequent admission to psychiatric surveillance and label of mental incompetence. The story climaxes with Salander tracking the real killers and she is shot in the head. The story ends there and progresses to #3 The girl who kicked the hornet's nest.
Actually, I received books #1 and #2 as birthday gifts last year (July) and only started reading on my holiday late December. By the end of the holiday, I had finished reading the first two books and was only logical thing to do at that juncture was to purchase the voluminous book #3 at the airport on my way back! Daily commitments only enabled me finish #3 in July this year.
#3 continues her miraculous recovery from head injury and how she dodges from attempts on her life again. Despite being on police surveillance, with the help of Blomkvist and her cyber friends, she manages to conduct cyber spying to set things in order. In court, she is defended by Blomkvist's sister and the crooks are exposed and she walks out a free competent woman!
I heard they have movies out of this trilogy in Swedish. Will try to watch it and blog all about it in no time.....

Gory historic details or gore fest?

Razakar: The Silent Genocide Of Hyderabad (Telegu, 2024) Director: Yata Satyanarayana In her last major speech before her disposition, Sheikh Hasina accused those who opposed her rule in Bangladesh of being Razakars. The opposition took offence to this term and soon widespread mob throughout the land. Of course, it is not that that single incident brought down an elected government but a culmination of joblessness and unjust reservations for a select population group. In the Bengali psyche, Razakar is a pejorative term meaning traitor or Judas. It was first used during the 1971 Pakistan Civil War. The paramilitary group who were against the then-East Pakistani leader, Majibur Rehman, were pro-West Pakistan. After establishing independence in Bangladesh, Razakars were disbanded, and many ran off to Pakistan. Around the time of Indian independence, turmoil brewed in the princely state of Hyderabad, which had been a province deputed by the Mughals from 1794. The rule of N...

The products of a romantic star of the yesteryear!

Now you see all the children of Gemini Ganesan (of four wives, at least) posing gleefully for the camera after coming from different corners of the world to see the ailing father on his deathbed. They seem to found peace with the contributor of their half of their 46 chromosomes. Sure, growing up must have been hell seeing their respective mothers shedding tears, indulgence in unhealthy activities with one of them falling prey to the curse of the black dog, hating the sight of each step sibling, their respective heartaches all because of the evil done by one man who could not put his raging testesterones under check! Perhaps,the flashing lights and his dizzying heights that his career took clouded his judgement. After all, he was only human... Gems of Gemini Ganesan L-R: Dr Revathi Swaminathan, Narayani Ganesan, Dr Kamala Selvaraj, Rekha, Vijaya Chamundeswari and Dr Jaya Shreedhar. ( Abs: Radha Usman Syed, Sathish Kumaar Ganesan) Seeing six of Ge...

Chicken's Invite? (Ajak-ajak ayam)

In the Malay lingo, the phrase 'ajak-ajak ayam' refers to an insincere invitation. Of course, many of us invite for courtesy's sake, but then the invitee may think that the invitation is for real! How does anyone know? Inviters and invitees must be smart enough to take the cue that one party may have gatecrashed with ulterior motives, or the other may not want him to join in the first place! Easily twenty years ago, my family was invited to a toddler's birthday party. As my children were toddlers, too, we were requested to come early so that my kids could run around and play in their big compound. And that the host said she would arrange a series of games for them to enjoy. So there we were in the early evening at a house that resembled very little of one immersed in joy and celebration. Instead, we were greeted by a house devoid of activities and no guests. The host was still out shopping her last-minute list, and her helper was knee-deep in her preparations to ...

RIFLE RANGE BOY

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