Ranjona Banerji: When the only option is fantasy

The series now outpaces George RR Martins books and the final season is almost upon us winter is coming PicGame of Thrones official Facebook pageIn the Chamber of Secrets the second in the Harry Potter series a basilisk roams around Hogwarts hissing kill and students and animals are petrified by it Harry and his brave friends work hard to beat the basilisk and everything it implies At the moment though with a sort of kill frenzy roaming around India I confess that I have no courage to even read about it let alone write and have instead decided on both fright and flightHow does one escape and where to Physical escape is too complicated and few of us can afford to go on holiday forever And besides it is not the physical one wants to escape from but the relentless creeping madness of hatred and violence that is beginning to consume us made worse by the justifications of viciousness and the mocking of those who are disquieted or frightened of itLuckily for me on my escape journey theres Wimbledon Tension butterflies in the tummy gutwrenching fear joy and elation ndash its all there in each match that Roger Federer plays Add to that the glorious thrill of watching new talent emerge or old talent like Venus Williams for instance involved in tough negotiations where canny experience wins over youthful enthusiasmOn Monday night even as a resilient Andy Murray fought off a mercurial Benoit Paire and Federer diminished the very talented Grigor Dimitrov French Open champion Rafael Nadal was involved in an almost five hour nailbiter with Gilles Muller of Luxembourg Muller 34 had beaten a 19yearold Nadal in the second round at Wimbledon in four sets in 2005 He was called Gilles the Giantkiller by a bloodhound press always looking for new underdogsNow 12 years later after being plagued by injury Muller is back Nadal and he locked horns for five sets which ended at 1513 in the fifth set The weather and satellite television allowing the worlds oldest tennis tournament ndash 140 years old this year ndash offers sanctuary and excitement every eveningPhilosophical parallels between life and sport aside at the moment Wimbledon is testament to human achievement and will both weak and indomitableAlso a revelation ndash in a completely different field is British actor Rowan Atkinson as Georges Simenons legendary detective Jules MaigretAtkinson has long been a comedian best known as Blackadder for the discerning and Mr Bean for everyone else To see him in a serious role shorn of exaggerated mannerisms and impossible facial contortions is a blessing and a marvel Indeed that he can keep his mobile face so still and bring such gravitas to the role of this great French detective speaks of greater acting skill and talent than he has been credited with so farOnce a week you feel is almost not enough to watch Atkinson cast a spell on the viewer and take old familiar stories ndash for connoisseurs of crime fiction ndash and make them his own And again one is fascinated with the way the French criminal justice system works with its inquisitorial system and not the adversarial system we use here in India as well as in England and America The ideas of guilt and innocence of intent and action of incitement and violence and of crime and punishment are usually so much better portrayed in fiction than in real life and crime fiction almost always ensures that justice is doneBut there are times when the fictional answer is too pat The basilisk is still roaming around India and you can sense it moving in the corners of your eyes even as you try to look away The only option then is fantasy And the biggest most outrageous most violent and most Machiavellian fantasy world is on its way to television viewersHow wonderful for human invention and imagination that in spite of all the horrific things we have done as humans throughout our history we are still shocked and stunned by Game of Thrones Nothing is too vile if it gets the job done that is the promise that this series offers as it now outpaces George RR Martins books The final season is almost upon us the Great War is here and winter is comingImmersed in a world where bad is horrific and good is pretty bad I can only pretend that it has dimmed the sound of the basiliskFor nowRanjona Banerji is a senior journalist You can follow her on Twitter ranjona Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom