Kiran Manral

Character study

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

The whole idea of a historical detective began for me when I received an abridged Sherlock Holmes book as a prize in school. The book opened up everything I had thought about the UK, about the Dickensian era and the grasslands of England. When I read Holmes in the beginning, I remember feeling like I was solving the mystery along with this man. But re-reading it later, I started dwelling more on the character and details like the descriptions of the large castles. More than the stories, it's the characters like Professor Moriarty that I remember. Also, another association I have with the series is through my dog. My peers and seniors would [laughingly] call it The Hound of the Baskervilles, when it was actually this little Pomeranian.

Anita Nair

Holmes, the adapter

I read The Hounds of the Baskervilles when I was in school and it had this old-school way of story-telling that I wasn't familiar with. But for me, the resurrection of the character came in the form of the shows [on BBC starring Benedict Cumberbatch]. It's not that Holmes was fading away. But people got to see a modern adaption of the first fictitious detective figure that most of us ever knew. I have seen the films with Robert Downey Jr, too, and the fact that one character can spawn such high-profile adaptations shows how important he is. There are also many literary derivatives, of which Satyajit Ray's Feluda is the most successful.

Bilal Siddiqui

Catch up on all the latest Mumbai news, crime news, current affairs, and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@middayinfomedialtd) and stay updated with the latest news