Have a magical holiday season.

Eragon, the first novel in the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini, is a story about a farm boy who finds a dazzling sapphire-blue stone which, as it is revealed later, is in fact an egg that hatches a blue-scaled dragon. The dragon, Saphira, establishes an unbreakable bond with the young man who learns that he is the only dragon-rider to have come into existence in many years; and that he will have to choose whether to resist the evil king/dragon-rider Galbatorix or surrender and join him. With his home destroyed and his uncle murdered by the Ra’zac (evil dragon hunters employed by Galbatorix) Eragon sets out on a journey with his mentor, Brom, to learn the dragon riding craft and enact his revenge on the Ra’zac. In essence, Eragon has all the traditional ingredients that make a fantasy novel enjoyable. That’s what the publisher says. Monday: 1pm, a hot and hungry afternoon. Place : Kottayam ( Somewhere in the Southern part of Kerala ) I and my friend Bala were waiting at the Kottayam bus-stand for the 2pm Bangalore bound bus and were mentally preparing for the18 hour journey back home.Bala was reading the Kerala edition of “ The Hindu”, I half close my eyes and try to count the tulsi beads . Suddenly there is a flurry of activity as the seat in front is occupied by a couple of teenagers( a typical Malayali girl and a dude).They stare at me and I am unaware of the attention that is being bestowed on me.( Nope this time it was not the nose but the sandal paste on my forehead ) .Bala nudges me and tries to wake me from my stupor and whispers that I am being watched. I ignore the stares and try to concentrate but my mind wavers and I do the one thing I swore never to do. I scratch my nose. I then decide to visit the the Book store which is round the corner. I feel 6 pairs of eyes following me. I look at the Agatha Christie book thoughtfully and suddenly my attention is drawn towards the book titled “ Eragon” and on an impulse I buy it, something to read on the return journey.. Thus starts the epic journey to a world filled with magic, Urgals,Orcs ,Elves and of course a blue Dragon. The first 4 chapters are so similar to Robert Jordan’s “ Eye of the World” that I almost decided to abandon the book .. But Vc also stands for very curious and so I continued to read and was gripped by the plot. Did you know that the author started writing this book when he was a just 15 yrs old. I can’t wait to read the second part titled “ Eldest “ and so I am bunking office and will grab that book today . A word of caution to Mr Prashanth Sriram , Christopher Paolini borrows a bit obviously from the authors that inspire him (Tolkien, McCaffery, LeGuin, Jordan, Lewis, Pullman, Donaldson). The best part is that this is going to be movie in 2006,something to look forward to.The girls are sure to go gaga googoo when they see the hero.