It has been a long time since I have written in this space.
Time is a constraint which prevented me from doing so. Another issue is a topic
I am interested in. Let me update you the things which happened in my life
since my last post.
The biggest story is that I am now an earning member of my
family. I am now able to support my dad in running the family. Though he
doesn't ask me for anything, I am now capable and will be helping him in any
circumstances. Me becoming an earning member itself is a story. I am greatly
indebtful to a friend of mine without whom, I would have still been sitting at
home thinking what to do next. Thanks to him, I am now one among the 303,000
strong workforce of a 126 year old German automotive giant who has overall
revenues running in the order of 50 million Euros in the last fiscal and has
presence in nearly 60 countries worldwide, through more than 350 subsidiaries.
Now, that I am earning, I am now starting to realize my many
dreams. One such dream was to own The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Though I had
read almost all the adventures, I am a big fan of the character created by Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, I never had a copy of it by myself. I always read the
copies owned by my friends, who were kind enough to lend me their copies to
savour the mystery solving adventures of one of the most famous, and the only “consulting
detective”. Now, I am a proud owner of an imported hardcover, published by
Vintage Books in 2009, commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle (Buy the book in flipkart or amazon). In fact, I am going to tell about his adventures, the way I
perceived it and enjoyed it.
I was introduced to Sherlock Holmes by my maternal
grandfather. In my childhood, he subscribed to a summer library program by The
Trivandrum Publications. They send us a set of books by post at the beginning
of every summer. I used to eagerly wait for their books as it started in me a
great eagerness to read. They contained many small books, easy enough for kid
of that age to handle. Moreover, it was in my mother tongue which made it easy
for me to understand the stories easily. The books include 1001 Nights, the Arabian
fables, books on English grammar, and many more. That’s all what I could
remember.
Of all the books, I was interested in Sherlock Holmes the
most. They had one or two short stories at a time and I would finish the book
in a single sitting and eagerly waited for the next. Though it was a little bit
difficult to sink into the Victorian setup, being a Keralite young boy, the
stories were far beyond the crutches of such limitations. It was the mystery
and suspense that intrigued me. In the evenings, I used to sip the hot glass of
Complan (yes!! I was a Complan boy! Still, I didn’t get that height and
physique as the ads say) and read the stories. I re read all the Holmes stories
available to me umpteen number of times. Some stories were even by heart to me
at those times. After I read “The Dancing Men” (First appeared in The Strand
magazine in 1903), I even prepared my own version of the code and tried to
teach it myself and my sister, which met with great failure.
Now, years after that, I was reading the recently acquired
book, sipping a hot glass of Complan (yes, still I am a Complan boy, waiting
for the ads to become true!!!!) which aroused the old memories in me regarding
the Sherlock Holmes.
A year ago, I happened to come across a modern take on
Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock, which came as a TV series in BBC One in 2010. What I
felt is that the creators, Steven Moffat and Mark Grattis had done a beautiful
job of recreating the adventures of Sherlock Holmes in the 21st
century. The telegraphs are replaced by SMS and the diary of Dr Watson is
replaced by his blog. It is simply great. They have already aired 2 seasons of
three episodes each. Another 3-episode season is about to start its production
in January, 2013 and airing date is not yet announced. It is very sad that they
only air 3 episodes per season. Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin
Freeman as his trusty compliance have done their job exceptionally well.
Cumberbatch is a delight to watch as Sherlock with all the eccentricities and
intelligence neatly portrayed by him.
CBS, have started their version of modern Sherlock, with a
small twist. In Elementary, they have made a makeover for the trusted companion
of Sherlock. Dr Watson is no longer a “he”. Dr. Joan Watson (played by Lucy
Liu) comes to live with Sherlock Holmes (played by Jonny Lee Miller), who has
moved to New York as a part of drug rehabilitation. Watson is employed by
Holmes’ father to help Holmes in rehabilitation. I have not yet seen any of the
episodes of this, but I am looking forward to see the episodes.
