Tanzeem is the fourth and final installment (After Lashkar, Salim Must Die and Blowback) in Mukul Deva’s series of military thrillers. He has written these books at such breakneck speed that he released the 4 books over a span of 4 years from 2008 till 2011. I like many others am in love with his Tom Clancy style writing. And ever since I read Blowback, I was waiting for the day I could lay my hands on Tanzeem.

The book begins where Blowback ends. After the confrontation with the heads of the Indian Mujahideen, Iqbal, the undercover Force-22 operative decides that he needs to go into the heart of Pakistan and take out the killing machines with his own hands. Despite attempts by the top brass to prevent him from taking such a decision, he doesn’t heed their warnings and takes on the arduous journey. The rest of the story deals with how he succeeds in finding and befriending the group of terror masters waiting to unleash a wave of urban global terror. Does he succeed? Is he killed? You got to read it.

Mukul loves to mix reality with fiction and what you get is a deadly combo capable of creating some deadly controversies. After dealing with Pakistan’s proxy wars and their love of Kashmir in his earlier installments, he focuses Tanzeem on the terror unleashed by groups within Pakistan. The army’s offensive in the Swat Valley, the Indian embassy attack in Kabul, the hand in glove ISI enjoying the support of the Pakistani army, the attacks on the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan, US supporting Pakistan with billions of dollars, are all real life incidents. And he brings them alive with this book.

You can feel your mind racing through the rugged terrains of Waziristan. You can feel the pain in Iqbal’s heart when he leaves his son. You can feel the anxiety within Iqbal about whether he would be able to take down the terror masters. You can feel how the weapons of each soldier or terrorist look as they come to shred their target to bits. This edge of the seat thriller takes you on an amazing ride you wish would never stop.

The narrative is pretty strong and structured. The speed is so pacy that you would want to finish the book in one go. The chapter dedicated to the history of the Taliban’s Russian attack as well as their growth in Afghanistan could have been edited a bit. But then it gives a more deeper look into what actually would have taken place during that period.

Iqbal as the Force 22 operative is the heart and soul of the story. On him rests the entire success of the mission and the safety of millions of men, women and children. His anxiety, happiness, pain, despair, hopelessness and finally delight is so beautiful portrayed that you actually start wondering if he is standing right in front of you. Ameer ul Moineem is the dreaded terror master who believes that unleashing a wave of global terror will only lead him to the right path. The others don’t really have much have a role to play.

The book is the perfect finale for his military series. And truth be told – Mukul has it in him to be remembered as the best thriller writer in India for a long time to come.

Rating – 4.5/5

For those interested, here are my reviews of –

Salim Must Die – https://aseemrastogi2.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/salim-must-die-book-review/

Blowback – https://aseemrastogi2.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/book-review-blowback/

When it hits you, it feels like a bullet. But then, cold water has the amazing property of driving away your sleep. After quite a bit of stumbling and staggering, I finally left to catch the bus for the 2 hour journey to work.

As I stepped out, the extreme chill took me by surprise. Though I was prepared with my jacket, I got goose bumps almost immediately. It was dawn and there weren’t too many people around about in the township. The air felt fresh and the birds were happily chirping away.  A distinct sweet smell of the earth due to the rain last night hung in the air.

By the time I sat in the bus, my hands were almost numb due to the cold. But then we were going in a bus and all the windows were shut. So why would I need a jacket? Lost in thoughts we finally began moving.

It was a quiet chilly morning. Even if the sun had come out, the thick fog would have blocked all its light. Seeing the sun rise was an experience in itself. An experience not many of us get to see every day of our lives. An experience not many of us even cherish in the fast paced world today.

Early mornings also tend to give us a sneak peek into the world out there. Whether its bus or auto drivers, truckers, newspaper boys, early morning walkers – you can see them all up and about readily going about their chores. Some are there to earn a living while the health conscious among us are building up their reserves of stamina.

Seeing a number of students waiting with their school bags to board the bus made me think of the times when we were in school. Life was such bliss with no pressures whatsoever. Everything seemed like a breeze.

As the bus began to speed up on the highway, the chill began to pierce deeper through my body. I imagined my blanket and visualized the weekends during winters when I completely wrap myself in bed. Driving myself out of these thoughts, I badly wished I had brought my gloves or the monkey cap. It seemed as though the temperatures were reaching freezing point but I didn’t have any means to keep myself warm.

In between cursing the cold and my bad luck, I didn’t know when I dozed off and the bus came to a standstill. It was when one of my colleagues knocked me off my slumber, did I realize that I was back for another long day’s work.

The blurb of the book reads the following -

This is the story of a young banker whose employees believe in the motto of “Turning conventional wisdom upside down.”

Against the backdrop of financial boom and subsequent meltdown during the first decade of this century, Sumit becomes an unfortunate witness, active participant and ill – fated victim in the affairs of Ind – Credit Bank.

Over the course if life – altering events, the once blue – eyed boy is slowly but surely sucked into the dark abyss of the financial world, his dream collapsing one by one in a heap, taking a heavy toll on his personal and professional life.

Will he be able to survive?

Work pressures, corporate wars, details about the inner workings of the banking world, work – life balance issues, family pressures – the blurb prepares you for what to expect ahead.

Sumit, a suave, young and dynamic banker has spent 9 years of his life working for the government sector – State Bank of India (SBI). But when he gets an opportunity to move to a private sector enterprise, he jumps at the opportunity. His new employer – Citizen Bank is very different in every way from SBI. Whether its the opportunities, the pay, the style everything seems different. The rest of the story deals with frauds, extra marital affairs, the big bad world of corporate life, his life and challenges at another bank: Ind – Credit and much more.

First things first. Kudos to the author – Puneet Gupta for portraying the world of banking in such an amazing manner. You actually feel you are in the board meetings listening to all the financial jargons like ‘agricultural banking’, ‘credit portfolio, ‘credit franchisee’ etc. It’s like an eye opener for a lot many people on how banks disburse loans without even checking whether the customer can pay back in case of default. Obviously, the fact that the author has worked with Citicorp and ICICI has helped in shaping his understanding for the book; a fact which he has acknowledged towards the end.

The narrative is also littered with some financial jokes and quotes like these :-

‘Once a bank conducted a survey to find out whether sex is pleasure or pain. There were huge debates but no agreement. The votes were equally divided and they couldn’t reach any conclusion. Finally they approached an outsourced clerk and put the same question to him.

“Tell me, old pal, whether sex is pleasure or pain?”

Without blinking, he replied, ‘sex is pleasure’.

‘How can you be so sure when we are debating on this issue for so long?.’ the manager asked.

‘Had it been pain, you would have outsourced it.’ The clerk coolly replied.

But then the book isn’t without its share of problems. The flow and pace is frequently interrupted with a lot of financial jargons and statistics. A very niche kind of audience would find that kind of stuff, compelling enough.

The book is quite predictable. The corporate wars, the frauds, the ethical issues, the extra marital affairs are all been there done that kind of stuff.

Some unexplained facts -

1. What happens to Annie in the end?

2. What happens to Shalini and his son Shibu in the end?

3. What is the first chapter about? Whose this guy Joseph?

Some of the character’s are pretty strong enough. Sumit as the dynamic banker stands out. With respect to his professional life, he doesn’t tolerate any wrong doing despite many attempts by others to influence him. Shalini as his wife accepts his busy schedules. But thankfully she isn’t portrayed as one who sits and cries at home or is pretty dumb. She takes her career forward by joining the NewsFirst channel and becomes a name to reckon with. Mohit Saxena, the guru of agricultural banking is someone who can’t tolerate failure at any cost. There’s Annie Mathew whose smile and looks make Sumit go weak in the knees. And then there are a lot of others like Venkat, Anupam, Sripriya etc.

Frankly speaking the book has nothing too different from the earlier banking novels I have read.

But it could surely be a one time read for bankers, financiers, people in love with the financial world as well as ‘FRAUDSTERS’ .

Rating – 2.5/5

Lets get some things straight right-away. Everyone isn’t a Rohinton Mistry or an Amitav Ghosh or an Anita Desai. And so understandably a lot many of us have set their standards pretty low. Chetan Bhagat is widely regarded as the God of Indian writing. Whether that’s good or bad, I leave the reading public to form their own opinions.

Once the idol is set and the content is decided and penned down; the biggest question, “How do we find a publisher”? To get a deeper understanding into this, I approached a couple of publishers by email. Some of them were renowned names like Random House India, Hachette India, Fingerprint Submissions etc. While some others weren’t so renowned.

Expectedly, the renowned ones asked me to send in my submissions along with the CV. And once I did, they replied back saying that they would get back to me within a few weeks. The replies from two of the not so renowned ones made me think about a deeper malaise among the Indian publishers today -

Publisher 1 – He read my work and seemed genuinely interested in getting it published. But then, he told me that Rs 1500 per script is what I am supposed to pay. He told me that the money was based on the following tasks -

Publisher 2 – He didn’t bother reading my work at all. He said -

“It costs around Rs.70,000/- to produce the first edition of 1000 copies. And you have to spend at least Rs.30,000/- on publicity (which will go towards giving away free copies and deep discounts) to have a realistic hope of selling 1000 copies.”

He went on to bargain with me and also convince me of how even a lot of Chetan Bhagat’s works have been ghost written. According to what he said, it seemed as though a lot of first timers spend a lot of money to get published.

All the publishers may not be like this. Probably even these two may not charge all their writers money to get published. Probably, the Indian publishing industry isn’t really at a very bad stage. Probably I am thinking too much.

But what you take home from this is that “Writing has to make business sense.” If it doesn’t, people won’t really care. Obviously agreed. But then, where is the merit in selection gone? Are we really generating quality with such printers in the garb of publishers? Is it all just about making money and having a brand name, giving some interviews and that’s all? Is writing just reduced to being measured by meaningless numbers in today’s world?

One of these publishers is a startup while the other one is seemingly well established with well educated ‘entrepreneurs’ running it. If there are two who can have such views, who knows how many publishers like these still exist across the nation. So what exactly is there problem? Some are started by entrepreneurs while others by wannabe writers who only write about SEX! They know its really difficult to build their credibility among the top writing class of this country. So why not target the 15-25 yrs crowd who is desperate for some fame and money? And that’s what makes them tick and rake in the moolah.

So now think again. Do you really have the money to become a writer? Because according to a lot many publishers “It’s not all about talent, but your bank balance.”

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is the sequel to the 2009 flick “Sherlock Holmes” again directed by Guy Ritchie. Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. Watson reprise their roles. The flick is inspired by Conan Doyle’s short story “The Final Problem.” So does the sequel work? Do the two of them do justice to their roles and to Holmes’s aura? Read on to know more.

Sherlock and Dr. Watson take on their nemesis Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris) with the help of Holmes’s elder brother, Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) and a gypsy named Simza (Noomi Rapace). Sherlock investigates a series of unrelated murders and terrorist attacks and business deals which finally leads him to Moriarty. In between he comes across Simza whose brother Rene has been working for Moriarty. The rest of the flick deals with how the three tackle Moriarty and his forces so as to prevent Europe from falling into a deep abyss.

The story may not be really something to talk about. Some may also complain that many sequences are exaggerated, unimaginative and over the top. While the others would complain that its not exactly based on Sherlock’s detective work. But what the flick does is, keep everyone entertained throughout. There are enough dialogues and sequences to make people laugh and sit on the edge of their seats. At no time does the pace slacken and make you cringe at the proceedings.

Robert Downey Jr. carries the film on his bravura shoulders. His comic timing is fantastic so much so that you actually laugh not because he cracks jokes but he recites most of the funny lines with the simplest of expressions. Jude Law is competent enough as his sidekick. Jared Harris doesn’t really do justice to his role of the primary antagonist. Noomi Rapace as the sole female lead does a good enough job. Mycroft Holmes and the rest don’t get much scope.

As is his wont, Hans Zimmer does a pretty good job with the soundtrack.

All in all, for the entertainment it provides and for Robert Downey Jr, go for it. You won’t be disappointed.

Rating – 3.5/5

With respect to this particular post I would stick to examples related to India. Consider the field of writing. To be honest, does Chetan Bhagat deserve to be the poster boy of Indian fiction? Rather than character assassinate him like many others, I would take a different route. He never wrote quality fiction though no doubt he has improved considerably over the years. But his writing is for the masses and to make the moolah and laugh all the way to the bank. In terms of writing – He’s still plain mediocre (Though I am sure some may call him horrible). But why are thousands inspired by his style? Why is everyone calling him the god of writing? As one publisher recently told me – “We produce only what sells.” So its all about the money. Who cares whether you are mediocre?

Most of the people I see around me working in a corporate job seem so satisfied. You would wonder they have achieved the world and are the kings and queens of the planet. But here’s what they do. Go to office on time. Leave office on time unless there is an extreme urgency. Come back and enjoy life. And then go to office the next day. And finally after 5 days of work “Enjoy and party on the weekends.” Obvious questions would be “Why should I work that hard?, What will the company give me if work this much?, What is the point of all this when we can enjoy life to the fullest? etc. etc.” Now these people feel that they are having fun and working equally in life. But what exactly is there life all about? Mediocrity in everything? And they would finally be remembered as what? – “One of the many thousands of employees in that organization”.

An entrepreneur is one who creates jobs for others. He has the courage, the guts and the passion and determination to take risks. He is one who is never afraid to fail despite all odds. These are the kind of guys who actually move up from the level of mediocrity to some semblance of excellence.

There was only one Anna Hazare when there could have been any of us who could have stood up against corruption; there was only one Narayana Murthy who started Infosys when many of us could have thought of such a revolutionary idea; there was only one Tata when there could have been a 100 more. All of them were never born from a  golden goose who laid a golden egg. They were at some point like you and me. We dream of achieving as much if not more excellence as them. But sadly the dream is pursued by a miniscule minority.

There are leaders. They are entrepreneurs. There are people who think out of the box. But for a country which needs revolutionary thinkers to take it forward, we are pretty well short.

But all of you would ask – Why do I need to be Anna Hazare or Narayana Murthy or Tata or Kalam? Why do I need to be revolutionary? Why can’t I just go to office and come back home and party all night? Obviously very well. You can do just that and live a happy life.

It all boils down to -

What do we want ourselves to be remembered as? As ones who followed the others to establish mediocrity as a standard or as those who moved towards excellence?

As far as the Indian industry is concerned, Infosys and Tata lost their captains to youngsters of the next generation. But Kingfisher began facing some serious turbulence in its flight of “Good Times”. “Kolaveri” and “Flash Mobs” became the buzzwords among all of us for their own reasons.

1. Team Anna and their Lokpal Bill

Team Anna comprising Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi, Manish Sisodia, Shanti Bhushan and others remained in the news throughout the year. Hazare’s fast in the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi drew crowds like never before. Sick and tired of corruption, people protested, demonstrated and came together like never before against corruption to support Hazare in large numbers.

And so came the punch line – “Anna is India and India is Anna.”

2. MS Dhoni and his World Cup Winning Squad

The World Cup was back in the sub-continent after a gap of 15 years. The people were quietly confident for a good showing from the Indian team. But then performing on the world stage isn’t easy. Sri Lanka had been the only team to have won the World Cup as hosts. But through fantastic performances from the young brigade and the talismanic Yuvraj Singh, MSD sealed the triumph with a fantastic six to spark wild celebrations among Indians across the planet.

3. 2G Scam and Black Money

Tihar became the buzzword across the media and the online world. Suddenly, all our ministers and big corporate honchos were making a beeline for the jail as though it was some new hip and happening destination.

Due to Julius Assange’s comments as well as protests from various political parties and the media’s constant blitzkrieg, black money also remained in the news much to the chagrin of the Gandhi dynasty.

4. Why this Kolaveri Di

For a song which was created in a matter of minutes without even a proper video or lyrics, “Why this Kolaveri Di” created a sensation across the Internet. It crossed 1.3 million views a week after its release on 16th November 2011. After becoming the most shared song on Facebook and the most searched one on YouTube, it became the first Tamil Song to be premiered on the MTV India.

Now that’s some achievement, isn’t it? But by Dhanush’s words “It was just a bathroom song.”

5. Flash Mobs

Wikipedia describes a flash mob as below -

A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time.

What started as an amazing surprise at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in Mumbai by a group of dancers almost became a routine over the next couple of weeks. From Jai Ho in Infosys Pune to Kolaveri in Infosys Bangalore and Auckland to Senorita in Kolkata, flash mobs became the order of the day. Suddenly everyone was ready to shake a leg. Nokia took the concept to promote their Lumia phones while executing a well coordinated flash mob on their slogan “Small Amazings” in the four metros.

6. Ra One

With a marketing budget of Rs 52 cr and a promotion which began exactly 10 months prior to its release, Ra One was the most expensively promoted movie ever in Indian cinema. Some of the prominent deals included those with Formula 1, Champions League, Western Union, Horlicks, HomeShop 18, Nokia, Godrej etc.

But the most important deal was with Sony to develop a full fledged game for Playstation 2 and 3. Ra One also became the first movie to have a YouTube channel of its own.

7. Leadership Change at Infosys and Tata Group

With Naryana Murthy and Ratan Tata stepping down at Infosys and Tata Group respectively, it was the end of an era at both the big corporates.

While Murthy stepped down from Infosys leaving Shibulal as the only remaining founder in Infosys, Ratan Tata stepped down to make way for Cyrus Mistry (Only the 2nd Non – Tata to head the Tata Group). It surely will be a great challenge for these two to lead their respective organizations to the heights achieved by their predecessors.

8. Kingfisher Airlines Crash Lands

From becoming the first Indian 5 star airline (By Skytrax) to defaulting on employees salaries, airport debts, fuel debts and income tax defaults, Kingfisher Airlines has come a pretty long way.

1000s of its flights have been canceled over the last 2 months. 15 out of its 66 aircraft are have been grounded because it couldn’t maintain the maintainence and overhaul expenses. 100s of crew members have left the airline for non – payment of salaries. Vijay Mallya’s airline has seriously become the King of ‘Bad’ Times.

9. Indian F1

For years there had been a talk about having an Indian Grand Prix. And finally when it came to India for the 1st time on 30th October 2011, it turned out to be a massive hit. Though it wasn’t a full house (How would it be considering the crazy ticket prices??) as the government expected, all the doubts associated with the organization were laid to rest with an almost perfect race organized by the Jaypee Group.

10. Deaths of some of the most prominent personalities

What do Bhimsen Joshi, Jagjit Singh, Dev Anand, Bhupen Hazarika, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, MF Hussain, Shammi Kapoor, Anant Pai, Ustad Sultan Khan have in common? We were unfortunate to hear the passing away of each of these great personalities over the year.

A very special late addition (Courtesy:Swathi Ravichandran) – Steve Jobs

The king of innovation. The master of pioneering the personal computer revolution. The man associated with the Apple, a company producing the most amazingly technological products on the planet – Steve Jobs finally passed away after fighting a long battle with cancer leaving everyone stunned. He changed the way millions think about technology today!

As soon I held on to the bed to get up, I felt a shooting sensation in my arms. It seemed as though 10 needles had been inserted into my body without any warning whatsoever. All I could do was scream my lungs out for help. And almost immediately, a stream of doctors rushed into the ward to regulate my breathing which had spiralled out of control.

How had I reached a hospital? What had happened to me? Am I going to survive this? More than a day had passed without me even being conscious. The last I remember, I was flying to New York with my family. Despite my desperate condition, I was still trying to figure out the exact turn of events. I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t realize someone else enter the room.

“Hi Matt. I am Adrian from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The doctors didn’t want me to be here so fast lest you suffer a fatal attack. But the situation is so desperate that I need your help. I rushed into the room as soon as you gained consciousness.

You are the luckiest man on the planet right now. Surviving that sort of a plane crash with just minor injuries, you really got to be God. There were just 4 others who we were able to rescue from that ill-fated jet. But all of them are fighting for their lives.

I am not sure if you can hear me. But if you can, please tell me what happened that night on Rossia Airlines Flight 204.”

At a height of 6 feet, Adrian seemed to walk with the air of a man on a mission. He didn’t bother exchanging any pleasantries rather just came straight to the point.

As soon as I heard what he said, I closed my eyes out of shock and surprise rather than anything else.  Everyone around me was screaming for help; the cabin was filling fast with thick black smoke making everyone cough incessantly; my daughter and wife were crying out and finally there was an eerie silence. The visions went by in such a flurry that I didn’t have even a second to react. I was jolted back to the present, hearing the cries of my family for help.

I wanted to ask Adrian about my wife and daughter. I wanted to see their faces. I wanted to know whether they were alive and well. There was so much I wanted to say but words were conspicuous by their absence. Seeing my animated reaction, Adrian realized and signalled out to me that everything was fine. Only then did I calm down a bit. Probably they were also among the ones to have miraculously survived the crash.

48 hours ago, Kensington (London)

“Hey honey. Have you finished packing all the stuff for the trip?”

Laura and I were the quintessential small English family, happy to get on with their daily lives. We met each other while at college but there weren’t too many sparks which flew. Both of us were happy with music, dance, partying; all what a youngster would love to do. We had a few common friends and so we hung out pretty regularly with each other but that was it. She had the ability to liven up even the most serious of discussions with her witty humour keeping everyone smiling. It was only after college that we ever thought of marriage as an option.

Before things could even sink in, we had Annie. She was a little bundle of joy who came to our house replete with enthusiasm and chirpiness. Taking her to school, ensuring she got what she wanted, making sure she slept and ate well – her responsibilities took all our time. But it brought all of us even closer. Annie’s entry had finally completed the puzzle of a small and happy family.

Despite 10 years of our marriage, Laura didn’t look her age one bit. In fact people found me to be aging faster than her. It just makes me exclaim, “What to do if your wife takes away half your age?”

“Yeah darling! Everything’s almost done. When will you be back? We are leaving for the airport in just an hour or so and you still working. Why do you procrastinate too much? You know I don’t like doing everything at the last minute, don’t you?

“Sorry honey. I just got held up in some last minute rush. Since we are going for a three week trip, I needed to delegate the work to everyone. I should be home in thirty.”

Off late my 9-6 job had become a 9-10 one. Being the financial controller at Citi was as stressful as things could go, but obviously who would make Laura understand. Moreover weird explanations like ‘organizational restructuring’ for the stressful long hours increased my irritation even further.

44 hours ago, London Heathrow

“The airport is so big, daddy.” Annie looked at the Heathrow in awe.

“Yes my child. It is one of the biggest in the world.”

We had checked in our luggage and were sitting at gate number 35 in Terminal 3. Heathrow seemed much more crowded than usual. It was nearing Christmas and there were many like us who were rushing home for holidays.

“Look at the crowd. I am sure we are going to have a long night. All the flights are delayed because of the snowfall.” I was concerned that it was going to be a while before we took off.

“I haven’t seen such snow in the last 20 years. It’s just chaos everywhere.” Laura was right. The snow was piling up by the minute and this wasn’t going to be good news for flight crews.

Covered with threatening dark clouds, London hadn’t looked this gloomy in a long time. It had been snowing continuously for the past 2 days and one couldn’t miss the inches of snow accumulated on the planes and the runway.

“I want to play with Hanna.” Annie was all of 6 years but as naughty as a kid could be. Hearing both of us, she began to sulk. We were going home to New York and she had already made plans to play with her cousins. As they say, kids will always be kids.

“Awww, my little one. I am sure you can play with them soon. It’s just a small delay we may have. Don’t worry. Till then your daddy will play with you.” And with a smile I took her in my arms.

“Daddy, why are there so many planes here? Some of them are small while some are so big. Each one of them has different designs. Why is it so?” She looked out of the viewing gallery every bit like my inquisitive little darling.

For all the aviation enthusiasts, the viewing gallery was the place to be. One could see a plane arrive and take off so frequently with such clockwork precision that if the person moved away for a couple of minutes, he would miss a couple of landings or take – offs.

“My baby, there are more than 200 countries in the world. Each one of them has an airline of their own. Obviously, if each has a similar design wouldn’t you and I get confused as to which one belongs to which country?”

“200 countries!!??” Her reaction was more of a shock than surprise. But I went on.

“Are Kit Kat, Toblerone, Snickers, Mars etc. all the same?” I immediately looked at her hoping to elicit a response.

“No daddy. How can they be same? I hate Snickers but Toblerone is my all – time favourite.” She couldn’t hide her glee hearing the names of chocolates.

“Exactly! Similarly all planes are not the same. Did you get something in that small little head of yours?”

“Yeah I got it very well daddy. But I want chocolates now.”

“Hahaha! When will you learn Matt? You know she has chocolates as though she’s having a full meal. And all you remind her about is chocolates. Huh!” Annie did survive on a pretty good diet of chocolates. Laura wasn’t wrong at all in reprimanding me. But then I loved my daughter so much that pampering her a bit was par for the course.

38 hours ago, Inside Rossia Airlines Flight 204     

“Matt, we are never going to book Rossia again. They don’t take off on time. They don’t provide adequate reasons on what’s the problem. They don’t provide food to the passengers. Their flight crew behaves as though they are giving charity. What are we really paying the money for?” Laura was frustrated and rightly so.

“Relax Laura. I am sure the rest of the journey would be fine.” I put my palm on hers to comfort her.

“It better be lest I spoil their happiness midway itself. Anyway, I am planning to complain as soon as we reach New York.”

“You should. But calm down now. We are finally on our way to a well-deserved holiday.” I was happy at the thought of being away from my pressure cooker life at work for quite a while.

After a delay of four hours, we finally began to taxi down the runway much to our relief.

“Cabin crew – Please take your seats for take-off.” With the customary announcement by the pilot, the heavy duty engines of the aircraft began rumbling as the plane sped down the runway. Frightened at the heightened decibel levels, Annie held my arms tightly.

Within seconds we were airborne.

“Why can’t I see anything out of the window daddy?” Annie was trying her best to identify the different sights in London below.

“The light snow has reduced the visibility quite a bit dear.”

Within ten minutes, the flight climbed to its assigned altitude. Looking at the unstable weather outside, the pilots decided to keep the seat belts sign switched on.

Almost immediately, the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. It was so severe that the cabin crew ordered all the passengers to stay in their seats. Annie got really scared but I held on to her tightly. Laura didn’t seem all that perturbed knowing well that once we ride the rough weather, things would be fine. Though the turbulence lasted for all of 5 minutes, it shook all of us.

Just then as everyone thought the worst was over, the plane’s nose suddenly pitched up. Before we could even understand this weird manoeuvre by the pilot, all of us started experiencing strong gravitational forces. Though the flight became stable soon enough, the plane suddenly banked to the right at a pretty dangerous angle.

Everyone had gone back to their seats. The only noise around was the sound of the engines. It seemed as though the calm before the storm was here. Within seconds, the bank turned into a steep dive as the plane started plunging at breakneck speed towards the Earth.

I could see fear in Laura and Annie’s eyes. For the first time in my life, I was scared. I was scared to die. I was scared to lose my entire family in one instant. I was scared to see death coming in front. In the final minutes, all three of us held on to each other as tight as we could.

The overhead lockers opened up letting out the entire luggage onto the flight deck. All of us experienced twice the rate of gravitational forces. Some of the passengers who weren’t wearing seat belts were thrown up towards the ceiling. The entire cabin was filled with cries and screams of passengers as the plane spiralled out of control.

And then, there was a sudden silence.

Present

“Your plane crashed in the Irish Sea just beyond Cardiff. If you guys had flown further into the Atlantic, survival was out of the question. It’s miracle that you survived such a tragedy with just a few injuries.” Adrian seemed amazed to know of my condition.

But I wanted to see my family. Their love was what had kept me alive through it all. In all this, the pain I was going through was the last thing on my mind. After a lot of protesting, I was finally taken in a wheelchair to another room hoping to hug and kiss my wife and little one.

There was a huge crowd of people moaning and weeping next to what seemed like dead bodies of their loved ones. It was a surreal sight to behold. My prayers for my family increased manifold as I crossed all of them.

“Matt! Your wife is in coma and she has very serious injuries to her skull. We are not sure if we can save her. We tried our best to save your daughter but…” And the voice of the doctor trailed off. Or probably he was speaking, but I couldn’t hear a thing.

Everything else ceased to exist. All our moments spent together as a happy family whizzed past in front of my eyes. All of a sudden, I didn’t seem to even have an ounce of energy. Everything went blank. My entire world had collapsed to bits in a matter of seconds.

24 hours ago, I had a good job, a happy family and a satisfied life. And today it seemed as though all that was a fairy-tale. In just a few minutes, all the life had been sucked out of my system.

The movie begins in Budapest where one of the IMF (Impossible Missions Force) agents assigned to intercept a courier related to a particular person who is code-named ‘Cobalt’, is killed. Ethan along with Simon Pegg (Benji Dunn) and Paula Patton (Jane Carter) – both IMF agents, are sent to infiltrate the  Kremlin in Moscow to recover files related to ‘Cobalt’. But before they are successful, someone bombs the Kremlin and the IMF is blamed for it. The IMF secretary immediately declares “Ghost Protocol” which dissolves the IMF but the agents can do a covert op. ‘Cobalt’ is identified as a Russian nuclear strategist who plans to start a nuclear war with the US. The rest of the movie deals with how the IMF manages to avert the nuclear disaster that is about to engulf America.

The pace of the movie is pretty good as the action shifts across Budapest, Moscow, Dubai, Mumbai and then Seattle at breakneck speed. There is not a moment to relax as something keeps happening all the time. Though the story is pretty ordinary, the action could have made a big difference. But the problem lies in the action itself since its surprisingly slack and disappointing compared to the earlier installments.

Yes there are a couple of sequences like the sandstorm chase in Dubai, the Burj Khalifa climb by Cruise etc. which are pretty good. The way the Burj Khalifa sequence was shot as well as performed deserves a special mention – Awesome! But a few sequences here and there don’t make an awesome film, do they?

One is used to seeing Tom Cruise as the all in one action star in slick chase and fight sequences, that when you see him as more of a brooder, you are taken a bit aback. He is getting old and you can see it. Though he is still fighting fit and has in him the hunger to do his best. Kudos to him for the guts to perform the stunning Burj Khalifa sequence. Not many would even have the courage to hang from the 124th floor of a building!

Jeremy Renner (William Brandt) – the IMF secretary’s chief analyst and former IMF agent does well within his limits. Simon Pegg has fantastic comic timing which sadly though looks a little out of place for the audience expecting an all – and – all action flick. Paula Patton looks stunning but her acting is pretty drab and dull. Sadly, Michael Nyqvist as the primary villain doesn’t have a role which gives him much scope.

The last but not the least – The theme song of this series is its heart and soul. But sadly its horribly and rarely used in this installment.

A special word about Anil Kapoor – He doesn’t have much to say or do. But his one dialogue (Not the exact words) to Paula, sums up his role in the film -

“Ethan is a very cold man unlike me because I am very hot. Indians are generally very hot men.”

Go for it only if you are a crazy fan of the Mission Impossible series or can’t miss any movie of Tom Cruise!

Rating – 2/5