Candle in the wind

I find candles fascinating, romantic, enchanting and peaceful.

I am always buying candles, some of them exhorbitantly priced, from every place I visit. I have always harboured a secret desire to create some of my own candles. But being a lazy person that i am, i never got around to join the classes to learn to make these candles.

When I got much awaited 20 days holidays in December, I made up my mind to start learning to make candles. But the biggest problem in bangalore is finding the supplies for making candles, the only easily available candle making supplies are the Fevicryl Hobby Ideas candle making kits, but they are too childish.

Someone told me that I might be able to get some supplies in commercial street. I spent an entire day, in the tiny roads around commercial street with its innumerous shops selling craft supplies. But Nada. No candle making supplies available in these shops.

Then someone told me that i might be able to get the supplies in Raja Market, next to Avenue Road. (Though I cant help wondering why we have names like Avenue Road in Bangalore). This place is a pedestrian's nightmare. The aroma(?) of the food wafting through various nooks and crevices of this road, honeycombed with million tiny inroads, with people walking from all directions, I did manage to reach Raja Market.

Raja Market, i an old bangalorean market where you can buy all sorts of craft supplies, but i managed to find only one shop that sells candle making supplies. Felling extremely happy, i bought my supplies and went home all eager to try my first candle.

Anyways, all's well that ends well. I have been making candles for everyone i know, for birthdays, friends' new houses, general gifts to fresh acquaintances, you name it.

This is my first candle.

Six Suspects

Vikas Swarup reconstructs the Jessica Lal murder case through the murder of Ruby Gill. Vicky Rai shoots Ruby Gill, a bartender, when she refuses to serve him a drink after the bar is closed.
He gets acquitted from the case, and hosting a party to celebrate his victory. In an ironic situation, Vicky Rai himself is shot dead in his party.
Six people were found in possession of a gun. A motley crowd of suspects, their motives and their lives make up the rest of the novel "Six Suspects".
With six unusual characters all with a motive and the desire to kill Vicky Rai, investigative journalist Arun Advani digs deeper into the murder of Vicky Rai. The suspects are varied too, a hot bollywood actress, a corrupt politician, an american who dreams of marrying Ms. Universe, a mobile thief who is in love with the politician's daughter, a tribal from the Andaman islands and a corrupt (is there any other?) top government official with disassociative personality disorder.
What follows next is inordinately long stories of each of their lives. Eventhough the author tries to connect each little piece of story with the larger plot, there are too many details to keep track of and the plot fails to make sense.
Six Suspects sets out to be a crime fiction, but turns out to be preachy and ambitious literary satire on the current affairs of india. Or sets to be a literary discourse, but ends of trying to be a crime fiction. Whatever Vikas Swarup set out to create, in the end, what "Six Suspects" turned out to be, is a simple pulp fiction.
Vikas Swarup is like a small boy in a candy store, who is trying to stuff his small pockets with as many candies as possible. In "Six Suspects", he talks about issues like Jessica Lal murder case, gender biases against women, bhopal gas tragedy, infamous black buck killing and the BMW accident that mowed down the streetdwellers (a.la Salman Khan style), corrupt politicians, corrupt religious gurus, corrupt police officials, poverty, terrorism, naxalism.... Phew...i am running out of breath. I was almost waiting for the novel to start talking about global warming as well. Thankfully it din't... in the next novel may be.
The novel is crammed with too many things to say in too little space and tries to tell what the world wants to hear. Stereotyping India, the book is liberally peppered with statements like, "Any girl who wears jeans and tee has loose morals in India", or a university graduate who is a mobile thief, or the "Face of Bhopal" Champi bhopali, who lives in the slum.
Towards the end, the book is more confused than ever, in an effort to build a gripping climax, Swarup confuses the readers with too many plots. Unfortunately, in spite of all these, the climax falls quite flat.
Vikas Swarup's trademark style of building various stories with a single thread is clearly visible in this novel. He also brings about some interesting viewpoints from his characters, especially Shabnam, about reverse colonialism and Coppola's movies.
It is a good read, if you are the kind who enjoy Chethan Bhagath's books.