I had a disappointing year. I was working on some reviews but words wouldn’t flow, trying to write articles but felt short of ideas. I felt fearful to feel “I can no longer write anything” and ill equipped to express this feeling to anyone on Mouthshut.com. Nothing bad had happened to me so far, yet I was genuinely grouchy and emotionally depleted. Even my ordinary daily pleasures – a perfect glass of cold coffee along with my daily dose of Internet surfing and the late evening drive along the suburbs of Andheri- left me unimpressed. No matter how often I told myself what you probably tell yourself when you feel cranky and irritated- a thousand versions of “Be grateful you are not sick or living in Pakistan or married to Paris Hilton”- nothing helped. Then one bright day someone suggested me reading and I picked up “The Da Vinci Code”. I had only heard that it was controversial. Now for those who aren’t familiar with me, controversial means ’’must read’’ in my language.
The Da Vinci Code, written by Dan Brown, starts with a gruesome murder of Jacques Sauniere- curator of Louvre, carried out in a fashion that replicates one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting of the “Vitruvian Man”. Bezu Fache- Captain of the French Central Directorate Judicial Police, persuades Robert Langdon, a Harvard symbologist (I was just wondering, does Harvard have a department of Religious Studies?......Gotta check that out!!) to assist the French police in solving the murder mystery. Soon Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu (Grand-daughter of the late curator) to decode the codes left behind by Sauniere.
Soon afterwards Langdon discovers that he has been thrown into the center of a controversy surrounding the death of Jacques Sauniere. And too soon, solving the case becomes urgently necessary for both Langdon and Sophie. During their course of investigation, Langdon and Sophie learns that Sauniere was a prominent member of a secret society called “The Priory of Sion”—an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, and Da Vinci, among others
Secret symbols, hidden clues, cyphers. The remaining part of the book is full of them. Once one clue is worked out, another takes its place. Throughout the book, we are given glimpses of various paintings of Da Vinci and his coded works. I was stunned to realize that the only code which is evident in the first few chapters of the book ”(13-3-2-21-1-1-8-5, O, Draconian devil! Oh, lame saint!)” leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of the legendary painter, clues which are visible for all of us to see and yet ingeniously concealed by Da Vinci.
Most of the action takes place over a very short time frame, so it is a dreadfully fast paced novel. Dan Brown, the author, takes us on a thriller of a journey through Paris, London, and Scotland (In just over 24hours….Wow!!) merging the surface plot of a murder mystery threaded with the age old hullabaloo surrounding Mary Magdalene and the Holy Grail. At the outset, and I mean the first few chapters, you are aware that religion will act as an important element in the book.
The Da Vinci Code contains a rich cast of characters, both intelligent and fascinating. The know-it-all Sir Leigh Teabing, the dangerous but devoted albino Silas, the more-than-pious Bishop Aringarosa and the adulterous butler Remy Legaludec are among the more important characters than many others in the novel.
In Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown has produced a wonderful mixture of fiction with non-fiction, one that has forced us to view everything that has been taught to us with a different point of view (Someone rightly said “Dikhave pe mat jaaoo!). And with this book Dan Brown has proved he is one of those rare breed of authors who gets an idea, does careful, thorough study on the subject, and combines long laborious man hours to present a work of fiction that is extremely impossible to stop reading once it has been started.
One thing needs to be kept in mind after you finish reading the book: The Da Vinci Code has been instrumental in many people doubting their faith in god and in many others gaining a deeper insight into their faith. Dan Brown presents hard evidence that Jesus Christ was married to Mary Magdalene and had a daughter named Sarah. Whether you believe or doubt this claim is a matter of faith. After all, it’s the philosopher who overcomes his own doubts and the scientist who answers his own queries.
Before I end, I would like to know “Why is the Mona Lisa smiling”?.....Guys, use your wildest imagination….and gemme the weirdest reply you can possibly think of :)