ಕನ್ನಡದ Dan Brown

Most of you are familiar with Dan Brown who wrote some very good thrilling novels like The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, etc. which went on to become one of the world’s bestsellers. His novels are so good that once you start reading, you can’t keep it down unless you finish reading them. Da Vinci kicked up a lot of controversies because of the fact that it was based around the imaginary Holy Grail & many conspiracies regarding the life of Jesus Christ, which was against the belief of The Vatican. Anyway, my point is to highlight his writing style. He researches very deeply, puts together the historical facts and weaves an imaginary story connecting all the facts leading us to firmly believe in it.

Now coming to Kannada(or even Indian languages for that matter), there had never been fiction thrillers like these, about the various secrets of our history. Enter Dr K.N. Ganeshaiah, who is an Agricultural Scientist at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore. Now think of the following: An ancient secret cult(group) of people pledging to protect Buddhism at any costs(even using Violence), A hidden Treasure somewhere in Afghanistan, World’s most wanted terrorists, cold blooded murders, historical facts, myths, cryptography, hidden messages in folk songs, CBI.This gives rise to “Chitaadantha"(ಚಿತಾದಂತ), his latest novel connecting all the above things giving rise to an incredibly thrill read.

His previous novels were:

• Kanaka Musuku (ಕನಕ ಮುಸುಕು)
• Karisiriyaana (ಕರಿಸಿರಿಯಾನ)
• Kapilipisaara (ಕಪಿಲಿಪಿಸಾರ)

Kanaka Musuku, is similar to Chitaadantha, this time its Jainism being at stake. Karisiriyaana deals with the lost treasures of the Vijayanagar Empire, while Kapilipisaara deals with the hunt for “Sanjeevini” plant which we come across in Ramayana which was used to save Lakshmana’s life in the battlefield after he was knocked unconscious during the battle. He weaves the stories using facts & riddles (some being real) in such a way that it makes you think that  you are reading real facts. He does mention in his 1st novel Kanaka Musuku that Da Vinci was his inspiration. He touches many diverse subjects in course of the story. He maintains the thrill throughout, & his book always has 3-4 stories running parallel, converging to a thrilling & revealing conclusion.

If you are familiar with Kannada, do yourself a favour by reading his books, they are a welcome change from what you get in Kannada literature. I usually don’t read much Kannada books, but I could not resist reading his books and I used to finish each book within a few hours! These are perfect for youngsters, who unfortunately are more and more westernising to start reading Kannada Novels.