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  • Initiate: War

    Written in 2007. Rediscovered in late-2010. Enjoy.

    INITIATE: WAR

    a short story by Rahul Dowlath

    The unnatural, austere, white glow emanating from the room’s walls were enough to light the place. But bright, 100-watt fluorescent lights were fitted along the edges of the ceiling.
    Three flat-screen computers gently hummed in unison, on a circular table, also white, at the centre. Everything about the place was in shades of white, adding to the futuristic appeal of the room.

    General Vladimir Stukov stood with his arms folded, at the centre of the room, in front of a terminal. Beside him, dwarfed by Vladimir’s height, stood another individual. They were the only two elements of colour in the otherwise white room.

    Suddenly, a white mobile phone, which was positioned at the centre of the circular table, began to ring. The General answered it. He did not even greet the caller, for there was no need to; there was only one person who had access to this number. He listened intently to what the caller had to say, and spoke only one word, in his native language of Russian.
    “Understood.”  The General ended the call.

    *

    Four thousand miles away, in the desolate and icy ghost town of Murmansk, Russia, a figure crept silently toward the abandoned submarine fleet that had once been the pride of the Soviet Union. He stealthily maneuvered through a broken barbed-wire fence, ran toward the only entrance, and sneaked up behind the solitary guard stationed at the wooden post. A sharp bang! Echoed off the icy snow and the guard dropped to the ground, blood running rapidly from the wound to his head.

    “There is to be no evidence of this mission,” the Agent was told. “Any trace can be used against us, and then the whole Plan will be terminated. I’m sure you wouldn’t want your beloved Russia to be laughed at again now…?”

    No, he wouldn’t. Russia was all that he had left now. And if it meant that a few hundred people were to die so that Russia could regain its once respected dominance, then so be it.

    So, Agent Viktor Matvei ran the last few meters to the silent submarines.

    In the 1900s, Russia was notoriously known for its lethal fleet of nuclear submarines. If detonated together, they could cause an explosion unprecedented by the Human race, destroying nearly half Planet Earth’s population with the mortal nuclear toxic waste.
    Viktor approached the fleet. The abandoned vessels looked for the entire world a mass of innocent submarines left to rust in this barren land. But Viktor knew otherwise.

    An icy chill ran through him, as the wind sliced through the freezing air, like the deathly sharp blade of a sword.

    He silently jumped onto the first of the many abandoned vessels, and continued to leap from vessel to vessel with the accuracy and precision of a professional in this line of business. Finally, he stopped at a particular submarine – the oldest in the fleet. With great care, and immense strength, he wrenched open a rusted door, and swiftly slid in.

    The inside of the craft displayed the aggressive arrogance and harshness of the former Soviet Union. There were rows upon rows of complicated machinery, hostile-looking and stained with the deaths of thousands. It was here, at the centre of the oldest submarine in the Russian fleet, that Agent Viktor Matvei placed the trigger – a lethal explosive that would make his beloved Russia the most powerful force in the world.

    Immediately, the Agent hoisted himself up and out of the submarine, and swiftly, he headed away from the aging Russian fleet.

    Standing in the middle of the harsh, icy land, Agent Viktor produced his mobile phone, and dialed the only number stored in it.
    The call was accepted, but there was no reply. As expected; the sign that Viktor is to report on his mission.
    “Sir,” Viktor began, in fluent Russian, just one of the five languages that he had the privileged of speaking effortlessly.
    “The Trigger has been implemented in the submarine. We are at an all-clear. I repeat, you are at an all-go to execute detonation.”

    Only one word was said in reply.

    “Understood.”

    *

    General Vladimir Stukov placed the white mobile phone back on the table. The man standing next to him, his assistant, picked up a device that looked not unlike a 2-way radio. However, this device had only one control, and it could broadcast a signal for up to four thousand miles. The man handed the deadly device to Stukov.

    “We are at an all-go for detonation. The world will once again realize the power and authority that Russia commands. The Soviet Union will once again be reborn.”

    And with that, General Vladimir Stukov pressed the single control on the device in his hands.

    Four thousand miles away, in the ghost town of Murmansk, a fierce explosion occurred, destroying Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet. Every inhabitant of Murmansk, including Agent Viktor Matvei, were instantly killed. But that number would be nothing compared to the millions that would die in a few hours, when the noxious nuclear particles would engulf the entire planet…

  • Short Story vs. Novel Writing

    Let me tell you something: writing is not easy. Sure, sitting around daydreaming is a part of the job, and may entice many people, but the bottom line is that to create something out of nothing takes a lot of mindpower. To write a short story can be enormous fun, yet exceptionally tedious (especially when there’s that awful thing called Writer’s Block that strikes…).

    I’ve dabbled in short-story writing, and it really took off in about 2007 with my short story The Shadow of the Underworld. From then, I’ve experimented in different formulas and found some that worked for me. But the biggest thing about short-story writing is the limited space a writer has to work in.

    The unwritten rule about short stories is that they are anything under 10 000 words. Most of mine are under 1000. That’s a really small space in which to establish character, mood, atmosphere. But that’s what makes it so fun: the limited space means that stuff can happen… and fast. There’s no time for excessively-brooding characters, multiple-layer storylines and other gadgetry. It’s quick stuff.

    On the other hand, novel writing – something I’m doing at the moment on a “TOP SECRET” project – is quite daunting. For starters, the unwritten rule here is that a novel is any text longer than 50 000 words. Oh my gosh. Fifty Thousand Words. That’s a heck of a lot, and a huge amount of space for an author to work in. But that space opens up new possibilities: now the writer can explore the vast dynamics of the character, introduce sub-plots and interesting structures that could be virtually impossible to do in the small spaces provided by the short story format.

    But novel writing can lead to serious Epic Fails. I’ve had my share of them over the past year. In fact, I went as far as nearly 15 000 words on a previous project before jumping ship because of the lame excuse that “I didn’t like what I’d written”. Prior to that I had tried my hand at writing an epic sci-fi/fantasy tome that didn’t make it past 10 000 words and a number of printed pages and scrawled notes. Then toward the latter-half of 2010 I attempted another project (also an Epic Fail) – but I might just return to it. Because, you see, I paused that book so that I could explore the exciting possibilities provided by the idea I scribbled in my notebook a good few months ago, and which I am now delving in to with the great help of the awesome Scrivener app. Perhaps one of the major drawbacks of my previous attempts was structure, and now with the right tools and (what I at least think is) a great idea, I’m positive I’ll complete this project.

    However, the above Epic Fails perhaps summarizes the art of novel writing. It’s difficult. The thing is, unlike short story writing, where, with the limited space the writer has, things can happen quickly and thus an idea can be seen in almost-full perspective from early on, in novel writing, it’s a whole different game. The idea is extremely high-level at first, and it can take time to delve into the depths of the lower levels of that idea. That’s why the original idea needs to be so compelling, so captivating and enthralling, that the writer can justifiably stick with it to the bitter end. Novel writing doesn’t happen quickly; it’s a long, tedious and extremely fulfilling process. Sometimes the writer will just want to quit, and that’s when tremendous willpower of epic proportions needs to come into play, to salvage the book.

    This isn’t a criticism of either format; it’s simply my opinion of the two formats and how different yet related they can be. Writer friends out there, what’s your take on this whole business of writing? Let me know in the comments section below!

  • My Top 6 of 2010: The Film Edition

    Since all the major social sites (read: Facebook, Twitter, Google) and my favourite magazines/editorial papers (read: TIME and The New York Times) are doing it, I thought, just for fun you see, I should compile a “top list”  of my picks for 2010.

    Since I’m a film fanatic, I thought I’d compile a list of my favourite films of 2010. Mind you, it was a tough decision, but I’ve finally come down to my top six picks of this year. “Wait!” I hear you exclaim — “the year isn’t over yet! There’s still a few more days, hours, seconds…  nano-seconds… remaining. You can’t put a list together when some films (read: TRON:Legacy) haven’t released yet!” Sure I can — TRON:Legacy releases right at the end of the year, and whilst I can’t wait to watch it, the list below encompasses some of the best cinema (in opinion) that I’ve seen this year (not to say TRON may not be amazing — the trailer looks great. But by the time I get my review out when it releases, 2010 may just well have waved goodbye to us all.)

    Anyway, here’s my list, in descending order of course.

    6. Iron Man 2

    I raved about it after watching it with friends back in May. Iron Man 2 was special-effects heavy, but it carried that “awesome” factor that die-hard action/comic book hero fans cannot resist. Plus, which kid doesn’t want to be Tony Stark, and own some of the meanest gadgets in town. Its references to the future of science, and the vast possibilities technological advances pose was also an added touch to a great entertaining piece of cinema.

    5. The Social Network

    I’m an avid tech fan, and having covered a fair ammount of analysis on the social revolution that’s currently going on, headed by the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Google, a film about Facebook and its beginning drew me to the cinema faster than a magnet to a fridge. Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin’s exceptional dialogue and director David Fincher’s excellent camerawork made The Social Network an enthralling, riveting watch that became more than just the story of how a geek made it in the big time. It probed the notion of what a person would push themselves to do, simply to prove their worth. It’s a story of friendship, betrayal and trust set against the backdrop of the greatest social revolution of the 21st century.

    4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One

    If you don’t know it already, I’m a die-hard Potter fan (so maybe this pick on my top five may be biased? Oh well.) I also wrote about it yesterday after finally watching it. David Yates’ direction of the grand finale to this incredible series is nothing short of spectacular. Whilst there were a few questionable sequences in the film, it more or less stayed true to the source material, and the cinematography and music was great. A good beginning to an epic ending.

    3. Kick-Ass

    A superhero movie on a different scale. Kick-Ass starts out funny, but gets serious very quickly, and transforms into a brilliant piece of cinema that poses the question: why hasn’t anybody ever tried to become a superhero in the real world? It makes one re-examine the human conscience and the reaction a vast majority of people have to nasty occurrences in the real world. The showcasing of how prominent social media has become in our lives is also handled quite well; protagonist Dave Lizewski (“Kick-Ass”) runs his alter-ego through a MySpace page and initial sightings of Kick-Ass in action come via shaky mobile-phone recordings of the fledgling super’s first encounter. A must see.

    2. Toy Story 3

    Pixar Animation Studios is my all-time favourite animation house. Their attention to detail, emphasis on story and classy animation transport audiences to richly-crafted worlds. The Toy Story franchise, one of the studio’s best and most loved films, came to a sad yet delicately handled end with the third and final chapter. I grew up with the series, and like many teenagers who went to see it, felt that the characters had become an integral part of my life. The moving scene where Andy says goodbye to his friends (toys) was emotional, yet so beautifully directed by talented filmmaker Lee Unkrich (previous director John Lasseter was Executive Producer) that it was worth every frame of the scene.

    1. INCEPTION

    Intelligent. Brilliant. Captivating. In fact, it’s difficult to describe how I feel about this film – almost as difficult as trying to explain the storyline to someone who hasn’t seen the film. Director Christopher Nolan (now one of my ultimate-favourite directors) has once again out done himself with Inception. Weaving an intricate storyline that spans the realm of dream manipulation, Inception is at its core a heist film – but one on a whole other level. While the story might’ve baffled a fair few cinemagoers, I was captivated from the first frame to the last. It’s a film that leaves an indelible mark on the discerning film enthusiast and prompts them to think deeper and dream bigger. This film is Academy Awards quality. Edge-of-your seat music that’s electronic-infused from composer Hans Zimmer, beautiful cinematography by Wally Pfister and one of the best stories my master storyteller Christopher Nolan. Now the real question is: are you thinking about watching Inception right now, or did I put that idea in your head?

  • Thoughts on Harry Potter 7.1

    Finally, I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part On today. After an agonizing wait that spanned my entire exam schedule, and a little after that, I eventually entered the cinema for the first part of an epic finale to one of my all-time favourite literary gems.

    I was not disappointed.

    I always maintain that the “intensity-factor” of a Harry Potter film can be judged by the look and feel of the Warner Brothers logo at the start of the film. And with Deathly Hallows, the opening was handled with a subtle thrill that I thought captured the very essence of what this closure to the series means. It was dark, gritty, intense.

    Director David Yates’ decision to split the last chapter of the Potter saga into two parts was a genius decision in my opinion. It allowed for more character development, a more faithful approach to such dense and richly crafted source material, and the chance for us Potter fans to eek-out more of the franchise.

    The abruptness of the ending left many moviegoers with an “empty” feeling; to me, it was perfect. Whilst I agree that it was quite sudden, it sets the scene for what will inevitably be an epic Part 2.

    The dark cinematography, hinted at in Prisoner of Azkaban (movie 3, for you non-fanatic fans out there), and explored in great detail from Order of the Phoenix to Half-Blood Prince, serves the atmosphere of Potter 7.1 well. It wrenches these vulnerable characters from their comfort zone of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and out into the big, bad world where Death Eaters roam free, Dementors permeate the very institution meant to be protecting the wizarding community from them — the Ministry of Magic — and the forces of evil are indeed a force to be reckoned with. Mr Yates managed to capture the very core of conflict brought upon from a multitude of emotions emanating from the three leads, set against a breathtaking backdrop that is in stark contrast to the warmth of Hogwarts, to create a highly satisfying cinematic experience.

    Alexandre Desplat’s sweeping, gripping score adds to this gloomy, murky, and dangerous atmosphere. The original Potter theme, first established in The Philospher’s Stone, is alluded to at the introduction, but makes way for a more edgy orchestration that aptly captures the pace of this film.

    The darkness has been upped a notch. The frightening presence of He Who Must Not Be Names lurkes in every frame of the film. The characters we’ve loved and rooted for from the beginning are pushed to their limits. And that, for me, is what the finalé to what can only be described as the “movie event of a generation” should be about.

  • Hello, December Old Friend

    Wow. Yet another year has gone by. 2010 seems to have gone by far quicker than previous years – I can’t be much of a judge of time on this spinning ball we call Earth (seeing as I’ve only been on it for just over 17 years) but the speed at which this year has travelled at would make old Einstein giddy with joy.

    This is my last year of being “beneath” a grade at school; from next year, I will be in my final year. This is going to place major implications on my blogging career (as you might’ve noticed from my devastating absence over the past few months whilst I was deep in preparation for this year’s final exams). I will be limiting my extra-writing in 2011 – and it will be completely cut-out as I approach the final stretch (probably around mid-2011…)

    2010 has been an incredible year. From the 2010 World Cup, to my school tour to Europe (my first time travelling overseas on my own). I had a blast exploring the history and culture of such a remarkable continent over two weeks with some of the best friends one could ask for. Then there was Target, the short film that I made along with Imtyaz Rahim and Bryan Smith. It won the Technical Excellence award at our “Oscars” evening, so that was a great way to close that awesome chapter. There has also been some difficult decisions I’ve had to make this year, but I’m hoping that they will pay-off in the long run as I aim to continue focussing on the important stuff. (On the mention of “focus”, I highly recommend fellow blogger Leo Babauta’s new e-book, focus. It’s free and has some great info on how to keep a clear mind and be focussed.)

    I’ve also had the privilege this year of being invited to write for Blogote, a technology blog based in Bangalore, India run by a passionate tech enthusiast and awesome guy, Sidharth. Rock on, dude! m/

    So, December is here, and that can mean only one thing: free time! I plan to spend my summer break reading, writing, and having some well-needed down-time. Here’s my plans…

    To Read

    I’m an avid reader, and apart from some classics, here’s some of the leisure books I have lined-up:

    To Watch

    At the cinema:

    • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
    • Tron: Legacy
    • Spud – The Movie
    • Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

    On DVD:

    • Inside Man (inspiration for a little something I’m working on… hint hint.)
    • Inception
    • Pulp Fiction
    • Inglourious Basterds
    • Casino Royale
    • Quantum of Solace

    Probably more. I’ll see how my film tastes emerge as the holidays progress.

    Amongst all this reading/viewing, I will indulge myself in excessive bouts of writing – something I love doing best. I am planning my novel in earnest, and Literature & Latte’s Scrivener, coupled with my good old Moleskine (because sometimes putting pen to real paper can ease the flow of the imagination, you know) are making this process all the more enjoyable.

    I aim to blog often, too. I have already begun to post regularly to Blogote – look out for those posts being published soon. Of course, this blog – Life in Pixels – will be having its fair share of writing. I plan to blog about my adventures in writing this behemoth novel of mine, my thoughts on the books and films I’ll be consuming and of course, my opinions on Life, the Universe, and Everything.

    So long, and thanks for all the fish.

    (Sorry – couldn’t help those Douglas Adams references. Perhaps I should add him to my reading list? We’ll see.)