This is a brilliant book, once you understand it. I must confess, I found it heavy reading, but then I read it again, and then again, and slowly realized what a brilliant book it is. Foucault’s Pendulum is a book that delves into conspiracy theories, but the concept in the book is more about detailing how weird conspiracy theories can be, how they can drive people totally delusional, and so on. As a side note, the book is nothing like the much more popular ‘The Da Vinci Code’ by Dan Brown (that dealt with real life conspiracy theories while “Foucault’ Pendulum” is more about how conspiracy theories are bunkum, but have enough adherents to provoke strange reactions in people, especially in people who have bought into such theories. Foucault’s Pendulum by itself does not promote a conspiracy theory, but integrates many prevalent theories related to the Knight Templars, Freemasons, The Elders of Zion, The Cabalists, The Jesuits, The Bavarian Illuminati, and many others, and adds one more fictional cult of its own – a fictional secret society called the Tres (Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici, Latin for the nonsensical “Synarchic Knights of Templar Rebirth”).

The name of the book is fascinating in itself, talking about the famous experiment by the French physicist Léon Foucault, in the year 1851, in the Meridian Room of the Paris Observatory. This experiment involved hanging a tall pendulum free to oscillate in any vertical plane; over a period of time, the paths taken by the pendulum will demonstrate the rotation of the earth (Wikipedia); this device forms an integral part of ‘The Plan’ described in the book.
The book is itself about these 3 characters, Belbo, Diotallevi and Casaubon (the narrator, describing the events in flashback), who get interested in conspiracy theories, the occult and decide to prepare their own theory called ‘The Plan’. Their personal histories are described in detail, including their earlier review of a book on the ‘Knights Templar’ which describes how the holy warriors did not totally die out when they were suppressed by the French Emperor and the Pope, but instead the remnants of the order went underground, established cells throughout the world in order to eventually take over the world and avenge their destruction. Their are other experiences of interaction with occult ideas and other conspiracy theories.
Eventually, the 3 develop their own conspiracy theory that includes many elements, and weaves together an intricate web, taking the help of the personal computer of Belbo (called ‘Abulafia’). Eventually, they start attracting the attention of a secret brotherhood that imagines itself to be secret society described in this plan, and which wants to capture these 3 authors for learning more about what they know, and capture Belbo in order to force him to reveal more. This eventually leads to his death at the hands of the gang when he is unable to provide them more information.
Casaubon escapes, and is left thinking about what they have created, and when he will be eventually captured by this society. He is clear that he will not let them believe that ‘The Plan’ is real.

Rudyard Kipling has a famous poem by the name of Gunga Din, and although this movie cannot be called to represent the poem, it does have elements of the poem along with parts from another of his novels called ‘Soldiers Three’. The movie is cited as a classic, a tale of a man’s quest to become a honorable soldier while he is currently just a helper to the army. It is also a tale of the comradeship between soldiers, their friendship and dedication to each other. The movie was directed by George Stevens, and was written principally by Fred Guiol and Joel Sayre with contributions from many others. The movie earned one Oscar nomination, with cinematographer Joseph H. August having been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.

The movie is set in 1880, near the Kyber Pass in Northwest India (currently the area where there is an extreme amount of tension due to the Taleban); this has been an area where historically, it has been hard to conquer and keep under control. The British had a lot of problem in controlling this area, and fought frequently to keep the rebels at bay. The movie starts with a outpost at Tandipur having been lost, and the Colonel in charge, Colonel Weed (Montagu Love), sends out a team for investigation headed by 3 sergeants MacChesney (Victor McLaglen), Cutter (Cary Grant), and Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.). All 3 of them belong to the Royal Engineers, and are veterans of the campaign. They are not exactly the most disciplined officers, but in a situation of such uncertainty, they would have been the best people to send. They are accompanied by a local water-bearer, the character bearing the name of the movie, Gunga Din (played by Sam Jaffe). He aspiration is also to become a soldier of the British Indian Army, and serve the queen.
This detail reaches Tandipur, and finds it deserted – their immediate aim is to secure the place and repair the telegraph. However, they are actually in a trap, and are soon surrounded by attackers, through whom the detail has to fight its way out, and they are successful in that. Back at their base, one of the captured weapons is identified as belonging to the Thuggees (a cult that had been suppressed in the recent past, but apparently is again resurgent).
These 3 sergeants are the key to the movie, and one of the 3 is Ballantine who is doing the unthinkable, leaving the army to marry Emmy Stebbins (Joan Fontaine) and go into the tea business. The other 2 sergeants cannot fathom as to how he can do this. Combine this with the fact that Gunga Din reports about a temple made of gold to Cutter (getting Cutter terribly interested), something that gets Cutter put in the stockade to prevent him from running away. Cutter however does manage to run away, helped by Gunga Din, heading to the temple where he is caught by the Thugs; Gunga Din escapes to get the rescue team.
The detail now goes to the rescue of Cutter, entering into a fight with the Thugs; the fight eventually costs Gunga Din his life, but not before he has sounded the alarm and got the Army to come in and defeat the Thugs. In death, Gunga Din manages to be inducted as a soldier, something that he always wanted.
The movie is a classic, full of action, adventure, comedy, male bonding, and a movie that is bound to be seen as a throwback to the past in these politically correct times.

It has happened many times that a movie was a box-office disaster when it was released, panned by critics, and having a negative effect on the careers of people involved; and then, over a period of time, the movie was re-evaluated and got more fame over a period of time. One of the movies that is a prominent member of this category is called ‘Bringing up Baby’, released in 1938. The movie, set as a screwball comedy (at a time when not too many people knew this term) involving a scientist needing a final item to complete his dinosaur skeleton (and needing a donation of 1 million dollars from a wealthy lady) gets involved into a series of mis-steps involving a jaguar called ‘Baby’ being shepherded by the lovely heiress Katherine Hepburn (also the niece of the rich lady).

The movie was based on a story by Hagar Wilde (and adopted into a screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Hagar Wilde), directed by Howard Hawks. At that time, the effect of the disaster was such that Hawks was fired from the next movie that he was supposed to direct; similarly Katherine Hepburn was also affected by this disaster. Now, of course, the movie is considered a classic, generating money, and earmarked among several of the top 100 movie lists.
The movie is about this paleontologist called David Huxley (Cary Grant). He is other mind-mannered with one passion, he has been trying to assemble the skeleton of a Brontosaurus, and is now just one bone short. He is also supposed to get married to another boring colleague; and most of all, he is expecting a donation of 1 million dollars for his museum from a rich lady called Mrs. Random. And then he meets Susan (played by Katherine Hepburn) one day before his wedding. Katherine is free, vivacious, spirited, who also happens to be the niece of the rich Mrs. Random (although David does not know this).
Katherine has been sent a pet jaguar called Baby by her brother for passing onto her aunt. Susan has the belief that David is actually a zoologist and can help her in the matter of Baby. When David is there with her, she starts loving him, and trying to get ways to keep him there in order to avoid him leaving to marry his colleague. In addition to this situation, there are more complications in the shape of a dog who steals the last bone and buries it, Mrs. Random arrives, Baby runs off (and they mistakenly release another jaguar from the nearby circus, who is certainly not tame). These 2 must now resolve all these issues, while ensuring that the million dollar donation is still on track, Baby is retrieved; a major complication is that the local bumbling policeman has put them in the local jail.
This is a must watch movie for the fast dialog delivery, the utter comedy, the situations that seem totally improbable, and the excellent timing.

The concept of a narrator of a detective story has been prevalent for a long time. The most famous probably being the character of Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes who was the perfect foil to Sherlock Holmes. There are some expectations from the narrator of a good detective novel – the narrator can bring their own quirks to the story, but they are expected to layout the story in the way that it actually happened. You don’t really expect the narrator to have a significant presence in the story; this was the concept that was used before the advent of this novel.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd turned this whole concept upside down. Here was a narrator who was going along normally like most narrators, and then at the end, there is a huge element of surprise. Hercule Poirot points out that the murder was committed by the character of the narrator, and the narrator admits this as the last element of the story before committing surprise.

This twist in the novel was very controversial. After all, the concept of a good detective novel was that you provide the same clues to your reader as available to the detective, and if you hide a major element in the story (such as the narrator having done the killing), then it would almost seem like a break to that concept. Fortunately for this novel and Agatha Christie, except for some critics and reviewers, everybody else accepted this twist easily enough. In fact, many consider this to be among her best works.
The story is about the double murder in the small town of King’s Abbott in England. The murder of Mrs. Ferrars happens first, and then the murder of Roger Ackroyd clears the lingering doubt about Mrs. Ferrars death was a murder. There are a variety of suspects with their different motives, with suspicion falling strongly on Ralph, the stepson of Roger Ackroyd backed by many pieces of evidence. And then Poirot steps in, having newly arrived there. What does Poirot do to absolve Ralph of the crime ? As usual, Agatha Christie has spun a great tale.