Operation XYZ (book)
 The behind the text image in the cover page is the painting that contains the secret to the treasure. | |
| Author | Nallana Abhishek |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science Fiction, Crime, Thriller |
| Set in | Contemporary India |
| Pages | 196 |
| ISBN | 978-1549880780 Search this book on  . |
Operation XYZ is a 2017 science-fiction crime thriller by Indian author Nallana Abhishek.
Theme and writing[edit]
The science fiction themes in the story are mainly related to brain-computer interface and powered exoskeleton. Medieval Indian jewels, ornaments and paintings from the days of Tippu Sultan are examined from a contemporary standpoint. Mathematics, physics and psychology form a major part of the narrative, making the text feel rich in science. The novel examines the themes of cannibalism and brutalism in human beings. Treasure hunting also forms a major plot element.
Elements of nature like stars, constellations, sunrise and sunset form a recurring theme in the text. There is frequent mention of popular culture. This book follows a dual narrative: one track is the narrator's diary written when he is injured and bedridden before the prologue, the other track is the narrative itself starting from the prologue. A book with the name Operation XYZ is published inside the novel forming a recursion.
Plot[edit]
Abhi goes running early one morning and finds a girl, Jasmine, running across a field being chased by thugs. Abhi helps her escape from them and lets her into his hostel in IIT Madras. Jasmine reveals that she was kidnapped and Abhi helps her reach her home in Coimbatore, steering away from the thugs and fighting with them. At the same time, Jasmine's father's oil factory fails its quality audit and is temporarily shut down. Suspecting foul play, Abhi continues to investigate Jasmine's kidnap and lands in trouble. Jhansi, Jasmine's sister, helps him get out of the trouble and shortly after that Abhi and Jasmine go back to Chennai.
One day Jhansi goes missing, making Abhi and Jhansi head back to Coimbatore. By the time Abhi finds out that the criminal is Drona, Jhansi is found dead. This pushes Jasmine into shock and she shuts herself in. Abhi understands that she is learning security hacking and is plotting against their enemy, Drona. Abhi decides to help her in her revenge and invites a Krav Maga master to a farm house of Jasmine's father. As he gets better in martial arts, Jasmine joins him in the farm house and they set up a surveillance on Drona. They name their operation XYZ and follow the clues to solve the mysteries of Jasmine's kidnap and Jhansi's death. In the process they discover a treasure buried in their house, which turns out to be one of the reasons for Drona kidnapping Jasmine.
Drona attacks Abhi and Jasmine to force them to hand over the treasure. Abhi and Eva retaliate against Drona, capture him and takes his daughter Keerthana into their confidence to make sure that Drona leaves them at peace henceforth.
Characters[edit]
The author has chosen the names of the leading five characters in the novel to form the complete list of vowels. Two of the character names, Evening and Drona, are pseudonymns and the narrator is named after the author himself. Evening (Jasmine) and Abhi are the main characters in the novel, followed by the powerful antagonist, Drona.
Evening[edit]
Jasmine is the protagonist of the story. She is very affectionate towards her sister Jhansi. She is described as a tall, slender, multi talented girl with an angelic smile. She gets terribly upset when her sister dies and shuts herself inside. She learns hacking and plots against her nemesis Drona. Her online handle as a hacker is Evening.
Drona[edit]
The criminal mastermind is an orphan who was forced into killing a person in his early life. He is depicted as a cannibal and monster throughout the story. He assumes the name of Drona, after the mythological Indian teacher in Mahabharata, Dhronacharya. He builds an empire by establishing various factories in Coimbatore and employing orphans. He is the direct descendant of the painter who worked in Tippu Sultan's court and is actually eligible for his part of the share in the treasure. He plots an elaborate conspiracy in kidnapping Jasmine and in closing the factory. However, he reforms by the end of the story and five years later becomes a Member of Parliament. He has a daughter named Keerthana, and has a chain of restaurants named after her.
Abhi[edit]
Narrator of the story and the third most important character. He is studying Mechanical Engineering in IIT Madras. He joins Jasmine on her quest and falls for her. He often misses college. He learns Krav Maga under the tutelage of Umesh. He masters the skill of throwing star blades (Shuriken) over the course of the novel.
Jhansi[edit]
Jasmine's elder sister Jhansi has completed her MBA and working to start a restaurants business. She is characterized as a friendly girl, who connects to everyone's problems and offers a helping hand. She cares about Jasmine and Abhi and also helps him in getting bail soon after he gets arrested.
Umesh Tripathi[edit]
He is the teacher hired by Uma to teach Krav Maga to Jasmine and Abhi. He is depicted as a very sympathetic character by the author. He feels he is a member of the family and swears to not take even a single rupee as fee. He has previously serve in the army and has a detailed knowledge of guns and weapons. He goes into the guest house in Rajahmundry and helps Abhi in getting out alive. He gets killed in a struggle to get out of Drona's custody.
Uma Maheshwar[edit]
A well known personality in Coimbatore and is the descendant of one of the friend's and courtiers of Tippu Sultan. He has continued the family business of oil and furniture and also has expanded to various other businesses, which include a school.
Inspector[edit]
The inspector of Coimbatore, who is looking into the kidnapping and murder cases of Jasmine's family, is portrayed as a responsible officer who is keen to solve complicated cases. He is also willing to bend the rules in cases of sensitive matters like the death of Jhansi.
Doc Oct[edit]
Doc Oct is the name given by Abhi to the doctor who operates on him after the incident in Rajahmundry. He works on powered exoskeletons for a Future Soldiers project in a military facility in India. He also helps the protagonist in providing a clinic to treat Drona.
Irfan[edit]
Irfan is a school teacher in Coimbatore. He works for Uma Maheshwar and claims to be practically raised by him. He appears on and off in the story. He is the last person to join and to completes the team Vowels.
Science fiction[edit]
The narrator undergoes a surgery to his brain after getting hit hard on his head. Apart from treating his cracked skull, Doc Oct inserts a transmitter receiver pair in his head. This helps Abhi to communicate telepathically with Eva.
Receiver[edit]
A small receiver put inside Abhi's skull enables Eva to send him data wirelessly, even without a bluetooth. The chip in the receiver decodes the signal, converts it into electrical signals and feeds it to the auditory nerve. As a result Abhi can hear as if Eva is right in his head.
Calibration[edit]
The optimal values of amplitude, frequency and phase are determined experimentally and are configured. Abhi complains that he is unable to hear anything and Eva introduces a logarithmic scale to adjust the amplitude accurately. Abhi feels Beethoven's symphony was playing too slowly and Eva multiplies the frequency, enabling him to hear. Eva introduces a couple of digital filters to cancel the electrical noise present in the system.
Transmitter[edit]
A small transmitter is also inserted in Abhi's head apart from the receiver. The transmitter is based on an electrochemical cell located in the part of the brain that produces a chemical whenever a decision is made. The electrode of the cell responds to the chemical and generates electricity. This activates the transmitter which sends a small signal to the amplifier located under Abhi's ear. Doc Oct says the electrode lasts 10-12 years and hence does not need replacement.
Amplifier[edit]
As the transmitter is located inside the brain and is small in size, it cannot transmit signals to more than a few inches. Hence a powerful amplifier is needed which can transmit signals miles across. A small hole is drilled in the skull and this amplifier is inserted along with a battery of cells. To preserve the life of the cell, which the Doc. Oct says is one year, a simple steel plate under pretension which serves as a switch is inserted below the skin which needs to be manually pressed to close the circuit for amplification. In the later half of the story, Eva overrides the manual switch remotely and thus making it amplify, without the need for Abhi to manually press and hold the switch.
Training[edit]
Doc Oct explains that in a normal human being, the chemical released in the brain upon decision making is very small in quantity and is very difficult to calibrate the electrode to differentiate between a regular thought and a decision made for communication through transmitter. Hence it gets necessary for Abhi to train himself, with the help of Eva, to generate stronger signals through the transmitter. Also Doc Oct suggests that the signal would be strongest when the decision is binary. Hence Eva naturally chooses Morse to convert messages into binary thoughts, so that Abhi can transmit, apart from answering yes or no.
About the author[edit]
Nallana Abhishek is born in Palasa, a town in Srikakulam District Andhra Pradesh. He completed his Mechanical Engineering from IIT Madras[1] in 2015 and has been working in Ola Cabs[2], Chennai in Operations management since then. Operation XYZ is his debut novel.[3][4] [5][6][7][8][9][10] No other recognizable publications of the author are found.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Irudayaraj. "Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Tamilnadu". www.iitm.ac.in.
- ↑ "TATA CRUCIBLE - Winners". tatacrucible.com.
- ↑ "Operation XYZ - Nallana Abhishek - B0763QHPTD - - . IndiaBooks.org - the largest online bookshow in India". www.indiabooks.org.
- ↑ "Today's Selection of Free MystereBooks for Wednesday, October 04, 2017". www.omnimysterynews.com.
- ↑ Abhishek, Nallana. "Operation XYZ" – via Amazon.
- ↑ "Free science fiction Kindle books for 05 Oct 17 - Free books for Kindle". efreebooks.org.
- ↑ "Operation XYZ - PDFLimited".
- ↑ "Operation XYZ - Buy at best and lowest price available in India - PrimeOffers.in". www.primeoffers.in.
- ↑ "Operation XYZ - Online Sale India".
- ↑ "Operation XYZ - Nallana Abhishek - B0763QHPTD - - . Pustak.Online - the largest online bookshow in India". www.pustak.online.
External links[edit]
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