The Da Vinci Choice

10

I won't be watching The Da Vinci Code when it releases in New York on Friday the 19th. There's a good reason for that: I'd hate to get stuck in a stampede as people rush to see the film. But I certainly will watch it and there are three good reasons for that. First, the book on which it is based is simply amazing. Dan Brown's book hasn't been off the bestseller list since it was published. With reason. It's an intelligent thriller with a great hook while being intellectually stimulating. The second reason is that Tom Hanks is probably my favourite Hollywood actor. Finally, because it's directed by Ron Howard. I watched him play Richie Cunningham in the serial Happy Days when I was a kid and, as an adult, I've truly enjoyed some of the films he has directed like A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13. The fundamental....

Reservations: Then and Now

10

I started my career in journalism in August 1990. Just about then Vishwanath Pratap Singh, the Prime Minister, decided to implement the Mandal Commission recommendations. A cub reporter, I was pushed headlong into flames ignited by that announcement. My first few assignments included covering a police firing in Sarojini Nagar when a student protestor was killed. I had the unhappy experience of viewing burnt bodies of students who had immolated themselves, be they at AIIMS or in Vivek Vihar. And, of course, there were NSUI activists angrily protesting the Janata Dal Government's actions at rallies in the North Campus of Delhi University or near India Gate. In fact, a young man named Rajeev Goswami started that process, but unlike those who followed him, he survived the extensive burns he suffered. A couple of years later, I met Rajeev Goswami again, this time not in the Burns ward of Safdarjang....