Dear Mr. Watterson

My choices in life can only be defined as bizzare, like my choice of a pet. I wasn't ready to bring home the regular pup or kitten. I longed to cuddle a tiger. Having grown up on Alladin and Jasmine every Sunday morning, was it really that weird to ask for a tiger? 

Little did I know that in another part of the world a kid was really growing up with a tiger. I discovered this kid in 1995, ironically, the year that this kid and his tiger made their last public appearance. Calvin & Hobbes bid goodbye to millions of readers around the globe. But our friendship had just begun.

The first Calvin & Hobbes strip was published in 1985; just a year before I was born. Calvin and his imaginary friend, Hobbes had captured the imagination of millions of readers, young and old, around the globe. People waited everyday for the daily paper to continue their journey with Calvin. And then everything came to a standstill in 1995.

First Calvin & Hobbes strip, published November 18, 1985

But I was not aware of this at the time. At the age of nine, following the demise of my grandfather, I discovered a kid as crazy as my imagination. In Calvin I found the realization of all that I wanted to do in my life but was told that it would be abnormal. So the abnormal me took refuge in daily cartoon strips. For long, my father had tried to inculcate the habit of reading the newspaper. I had finally picked up the paper, but my reason did not match his. I was not interested in the political state of affairs. I was more interested to know the state of affairs in Calvin's home and school. My curiosity lay in finding out more about the progress of G.R.O.S.S (Getting Rid Of Slimy girlS).

Calvin & Hobbes had opened a whole new world for me. They were the voice of reason that could say aloud that the adult world did not make any sense. For years, Calvin & Hobbes have defined friendship and fun, with little doses of though-provoking philosophy. Every time there was need for a little smile, Calvin's smart-ass comments and Hobbes voice of reason were right at hand.

I discovered years later that Bill Watterson, the creator of Calvin & Hobbes, had started the series purely for his wife's entertainment. Although he syndicated the series, he never let go of complete control, in that he dictated the size and print of the series, and never agreed to merchandising. In doing so, Watterson is no different from Calvin who is not willing to let go of his imaginary world and join the world of adults.

I have never been much interested in the world of graphic novels. To me they have always been limited to the daily comic strips in the newspaper. But Calvin & Hobbes is an exception. It is the only graphic novel collection, a gift from my brother, that stands proudly amidst my book collection. 

The original series had concluded with the iconic "Let's go exploring." In my life the series never came to an end and the exploration continues.

Last Calvin & Hobbes strip, published December 31, 1995

The Devil Needs To Rest

Sequels are always a tricky old dog! It is not without reason that some of the greatest sequels in literature have been released without much delay. It doesn't serve much purpose if the audience has forgotten about the original, no matter how big a bestseller it may be.

The Devil Wears Prada hit the shelves in 2003 and took readers by storm. Supposedly inspired by Lauren Weisberger's own experience at American Vogue magazine, the book was a breakthrough in the chick-lit novel market. Miranda Priestly, made memorable on screen by Meryl Streep, struck terror. Speculations that Priestly was an adaptation of Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, only helped the publicity department. The book and its screen adaptation were equal hits.

Ten years later, Weisberger returned with the sequel, Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns. Andrea Sachs has moved on in life. She co-owns a successful wedding magazine, The Plunge and is married to Max Harrison, heir to the Harrison Publication Group. Weisberger probably intended this to be Andrea, alias, Andy's second tryst with The Devil. However, it is no more than Andy fighting her own fears.

The momentary reappearance of Miranda Priestly and constant conversations about her omnipresence, along with recurrence of other characters from the first book, are the only grounds of calling this book a sequel. But the ground is shaky! Andy could very well have been called anything else and we would still have the same story. Nothing in the book inspires readers enough to go back to the first book and find out the reasons for Andy's reservations. For those who may not have read the first book, the 'sequel' remains a standalone book. It definitely forces me to think, if some studio got interested in adapting the sequel to screen, what would Meryl Streep do this time around?

Having spoken to a few friends who are huge fans of the first book, I did not find a single person who was interested to know what happened to Andy after she unceremoniously quit The Runway. The readers could definitely have survived without the sequel.

Think its time for Weisberger to wrap up those Prada and put The Devil to rest.

The Man Booker Prize

The Man Booked Prize is a literary prize awarded each year to the author of the best, original, full-length novel, written in English language. The author has to be a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, the Republic of Ireland, or Zimbabwe.

Starting 2014, the award would consider other authors, provided that the original language of the book is English, and it is published in the UK.

The 2013 Shortlist:

• We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo (Chatto & Windus)
• The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (Granta)
• Harvest by Jim Crace (Picador)
• The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (Bloomsbury)
• A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki (Canongate)
• The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin (Penguin)

The 2013 winner would be announced on 15 October, 2013.

Who do you think will walk away with the award and adulation this year?

Punctuated

Ever wondered where were punctuation marks born? 

This interesting article in The New Yorker reveals the history of punctuation marks; some still in use and some long dead and buried.

Mary Westmacott

Image Courtesy: Google

To the world, at large, she is the Queen of Crime. But the real Agathe Christie is not to be found in the pages of her 66 detective novels and 15 short stories. Instead, one truly looking for her would have to go behind the curtains of Mary Westmacott and the six romantic stories written under the pseudonym.

Standing at the height of her success as Agatha Christie, she probably yearned to voice her own longings. Traces of these longings can be found in her detective novels. Both Poirot and Miss Marple have a history of unfulfilled love. Tommy and Tuppence seem like a wishful exception. But deeper than her detectives, her longing reflects in her victims, especially those who are a victim of love.

However, Christie found her true outlet under a false identity. Her six romantic novels are as far away from the utopian world of Mills & Boons as they possibly could be. In the pages of these six novels, she identifies love in its most destructive forms; not only that between a man and a woman but that in every relation that one human being shares with another. Each love more binding, yet liberating, than the other; each more catastrophic than the other.

Christie's close bond with her mother and sister, her loss of her mother, her divorce and her rediscovery of love, all leap out of the pages. By the time she found true companionship, she had possibly come to realize the futility of looking for love and, yet it being an endless search. And this double-edged sword became the basis for the six Westmacott works.

They did not receive as much success as the Christie series. Nevertheless, it was here that Christie felt most comfortable, content and accomplished. She was more at home in the loss and pain experienced by her characters, possibly because of her own series of losses, than in the accomplishment of her detectives seeking justice. The Westmacott books are a clear indicator of her acknowledgement of the fact that there can never be a 'happily ever after'. Life is, indeed, about trial, losses and failures and, in the end, making the best of your situation.

Very rarely known for anything else but her detective works, Agatha Christie became the pseudonym to the real Mary Westmacott.