For a moment, he thought he heard a woman’s voice… the wisdom of ages… whispering up from the chasms of the earth…
The Krypt reread the last line of ‘The Da Vinci Code’, amazed, spellbound n in awe. Somehow, untrue to his nature, he’d managed to finish a novel in one sitting. As he shut the book, the words of his erstwhile history teacher, Lisa Screwball, flooded his mind…
-.-.-.-.-.
“History… Mystery… They’re more’n just rhyming words,” she’d said, “Hmmm… how do I explain? Ah, got it! U see, the past- history- is like one lo…ng story. It’s like a mammoth epic. Take 4 instance the Mahabharata. We’re s’posed to believe it actually took place. They say there’s documented proof to its occurrence. But then, whom was it written by? The victors. So whom’ll it favour? But obviously, the victors. So, wot happened in actuality is unknown. The facts’re lost. Its always the powerful one- or the victor- who writes history; who etches the supposed goings-on of that era… I repeat wot I’d said earlier, the facts’re lost. We’re living in a fictional world. In a nutshell, history was, is, will-forever-remain a mystery. That’s how it is. That’s the rule.”
She paused, waiting for the words to seep in.
“Hmmm…” she continued with the air of a pig who’d just been gifted a Deo, “I speak darned well, don’t I? Maybe I should pen my own book someday. I’m certain it’d be an instant international bestseller.”
A few students fainted. Dogs began to howl. Corpses were getting jiggy with it in their graves. Far, far away in a distant land, a mute donkey brayeth.
-.-.-.-.-.
Back in his study, The Krypt gagged at the thought of having to read a book by Ms.Screwball.
Hmmm… but wot she said was true. History abounds with mysteries. Heck, history is a mystery in itself!
Its always the powerful one- or the victor- who writes history; who etches the supposed goings-on of that era.
Somehow, The Krypt agrees with her. And apparently, so does Dan Brown.
THE REVU (“Finally,” u sigh)
13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5
O, Draconian Devil!
Oh, Lame Saint!
P.S. Find Robert Langdon
This seemingly insane message was all that the desperate dying curator of Louvre, Jacques Saunière, had left for Harvard symbologist, Robert Langdon, and his own Kryptologist granddaughter, Sophie Neveu, to identify n protect, wot has been victim to ‘The Greatest Conspiracy of The Past 2000 Yrs’.
Wot follows, is tension, thrill, enlightenment n running- constant running. They- Robert n Sophie- run from 2 powerful Christian institutions, Opus Dei (an extremist Christian cult, which believes that pain n suffering gets u closer to God) and the Church itself. They run from the French Judicial Police, which suspects Robert of murdering the curator n Sophie of being his accomplice. They run from a ruthless, faceless villain who calls himself ‘The Teacher’, who desperately seeks wot they’ve been burdened with. They run from the Interpol n they run from Silas- an albino monk, The Teacher’s pawn. They run for their lives n they run to decipher Saunière’s kryptic riddles n symbols.
SAUNIERE, SAUNIERE, WHO THE (expletive deleted) IS SAUNIERE?
Apart from being the curator of Louvre n Sophie’s grandpa, Jacques Saunière was a member of The Priory of Sion, an ancient secret society founded in 1099AD, that protects n preserves an ‘explosive truth’. Saunière, as a matter of fact, was right at the apex of the Priory- he was the grandmaster. He was also one of the 4 Senechaux. An ardent admirer of Leonardo Da Vinci [once a G.M himself (so were Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo n many other influential personalities)] and a master at creating complex anagrams, he creates a series of anagrams, with hidden messages, meant for his granddaughter n Robert, sending them on a thrilling treasure-hunt… the ‘treasure’ being the secret the 4 Senechaux shared.
SENECHAUX? WHO, WOT, WHY, WHEN, HOW??
The Senechaux were members of The Priory of Sion, who’d undergone various tasks n tests to show that they were strong-willed n trustworthy enough to be entrusted with the knowledge of the location of the keystone- a map that points to the place where the ‘explosive truth’ lays, buried n hidden. Now, all 4 were dead (Saunière being the last to be murdered) n the secret had been passed on to Robert Langdon n Sophie Neveu. Will they be able to decipher it? Will they be able to protect it? Whom to trust n whom not to? And exactly wot was that ‘truth’ that threatened to alter the entire history of mankind? Zillion questions n zero answers in hand, Robert n Sophie began their run…
“My hope in writing this novel was that the story would serve as a catalyst and a springboard for people to discuss the important topics of faith, religion n history.”
‘The Da Vinci Code’ is a slick, taut novel with a historical base that compels u to think, rethink n re-rethink. It’ll make u delve deep into ur soul n it’ll question ur faith on ur faith. Trust The Krypt, u’ll suddenly feel a surge in curiosity n, in all probability, u might end up typing ‘PRIORY OF SION’/ ‘OPUS DEI’/ ‘THE DA VINCI CODE’ on some search engine. The book prods that teeny-weeny part of the brain labelled ‘The thinking gap’ (Wot, urs is called ‘Thinking CAP’? Cool… suit urself).
“This book is not anti-anything… I wrote this story in an effort to explore certain aspects of Christian history that interest me.”
Right from the second Dan Brown penned the 1st word of this masterpiece, it was doomed to be controversial. Some critics called it a ‘desperate attempt from Brown to gain attention’. The Vatican condemned it and sought its halt. It was banned in Lebanon. Heck, it almost got banned even in our Bharat mahaan. Unfortunately for them, the sales only skyrocketed due to increasing curiosity levels n by word of mouth and they watched helplessly as it went on to become the biggest bestseller of the year… Say wot, Dan?
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