Ice 196°C G.R. Indugopan

Ice 196°C     G.R. Indugopan

G.R. Indugopan’s novel Ice 196°C is possibly the first complete science fiction in Malayalam literature. The work brilliantly uses the possibilities and hypotheses of science and technology. Science fiction is the area, where Malayalam literature is still unable to set its foot. Ice 196°C could be an ice breaker for Malayalam literature.

          The novel is centred on two characters and their eternal revenge for each other, Bindusaran and Rasmidharan. Once great friends, they were Malayalees settled in the U.S running a successful company. But they became enemies living to kill each other. The action starts with the murder of Bindusaran. Anticipating his fate Bindusaran had already made a bond with Dr. John Hopkins, the owner of the Alpha Life Extension Institute. After the murder Dr. Hopkins preserves Bindusaran’s head in cryonic suspension. Bindusaran’s mutilated body is taken as proof to substantiate his death.

          To his dismay, Rasmidharan finds that Bindusaran is planning to make a comeback ‘from the death’, after decades, to take him down. In his second birth Bindusaran would be younger and richer. Fearing his entrance Rasmidharan decides to apply for cryogenics ‘to born again’ younger and stronger.

          The introduction of Dr. Shyam Nair, a genius in the field of Nano medicine, is a turning point in the plot. He virtually connects the brains of the opponents, Bindusaran and Rasmidharan. The novel attains a new manner from that moment on wards. Dr. Shyam was shocked to recognize that his research may lead to the creation of a dangerous generation. The novel move to the climax with the dilemma of Dr. Shyam and describes how he tries to overcome the problems.

          The story of Dr. Shyam’s childhood in Kerala is brilliant sub plot. The idea of programmed humans created with the DNA of the persons living in cryopreservation is an admirable concept. They are created in the lab through cloning and growing inside the lab. Their brains are empty and unable think or feel or act themselves. The scientists upload and install programs to their brains and they act in accordance with those programs. They are practically working as a computer not as humans. The personal robot of Dr. Shyam, which starts to feel like human beings and at last commits suicide to save Dr. Shyam is another memorable event in the work

          Ice 196°C discuss about the life of humans in a future world, where technology plays the pivotal role.