Batman adventures: The Matrikas Mystery

So the owner of this blog thought he could outsmart me. He knows that everything that he receives needs to be screened by me before it can be used at home – you just cannot be careful enough in today’s world. I would know. 

After all, I am Batman, the ‘World’s Greatest Detective’. 

So imagine my surprise when I came home one fine day after driving around in my autorickshaw Batmobile and found three new additions in the room. Books, no less… empty books or so they seemed, at first.

What evil villainy is this?

You know by now that the man likes to write. Not just on blogs but on paper too. He started out that way – love letters on perfumed stationary that probably gagged the girl due to the scent, letters to penpals every month that went on and on about how awesome he thought he was (which somehow no one else recognized), short hand notes while studying and even the odd script and storyline. In fact, the only time he was frugal while writing was invariably when an answer sheet was placed in front of him during examinations, I recall.

We will have to examine this in detail

Be that as it may, the fact remains that he is well versed in all aspects of what it takes to be a good book. Yet looks can be deceiving, you see… like that time in my last movie where I fell for a girl and she ended up being Talia, daughter of my arch enemy, out to destroy me. So naturally, you can understand why, unlike him, I was a little suspicious when I saw the three books.

In the light, the hieroglyphics change into
"Pocket Chor. Tera Muh Kala."

The journal intrigued me the most. It was black, you see, and everyone knows that Batman wants all his cars, toys and gizmos in black. But more than that, it was the hieroglyphics etched upon it. The man of this blog is a fool and will get easily enchanted by fancy markings but I’m not like him. I know there is a secret message hidden upon it. I have deployed all my resources to deciphering the code. Till date, I have been only partially successful, though I must admit I do like the good quality sturdy cover which will not bend or get worn down over time.

For those who are interested, till date, the words I have deciphered in the hieroglyphic maze are: 

“Crime Master Gogo. Mogambo.  Bateeja. Aanken. Goti.” 

I don’t know what it means yet but I fear this Crime Master Gogo is a villain as dangerous as the Joker and Bane. I must be wary. I have however discovered that Crime Master Gogo now goes by the name Matrikas. 

After checking with my portable bomb squad equipment and realizing it was safe to open the book. The man had already started writing upon it, I could see! But my eyes were drawn to something else. You see, in all my years of writing as Batman in my pink unicorn diaries and later graduating to pink unicorn journals, I had never seen this before.

The stretchable yarn of evil
An ingenious idea, indeed.

I am not referring to the regular bookmark strip that we find in such journals. That has always been there. No, this was the additional strip of an even stronger yet stretchable material that had been woven right onto the back of the journal (remember how I said it was good quality stuff. This should give you an idea of how good.) 

There were no visible bulges in the back and yet the material traversed and sat within the book. This suspicious looking device was actually quite ingenious and could be used to further separate the book and hold pages within it as you wrote on the go without all the pages to your right going helter-skelter. Crime Master Gogo (I mean Matrikas) had planned this well, though what his evil scheme is, I know not yet. But I will find out… I’m Batman, remember.

The envelope of hidden secrets! Perfect for
sending love letters to Catwoman!

As I untangled myself from Matrika's / Gogo’s mysterious stretchable yarn of evil, I noticed something even more intriguing at the back. There was an empty envelope literally stuck onto that sturdy back cover on the inside. The man had already filled it with two folded sheets which I carefully removed with my super-ninja skills, making sure there was no bomb within. The sheets turned out to be notes for upcoming stories that he had planned which he had ‘transferred’ onto his new journal… talk about this lazy blogger's “Cut n Paste” job! 

But it was a smart idea, I admit. The envelope cover would ensure the pages stayed in place while the stretchable yarn of evil could easily be placed onto an earlier page and thus, no bulge of ‘extra sheets’ could be detected in the book.

Crime Master Gogo, you are smart but I am even smarter!

Gimmicks and gizmos are one thing but the true test of a book is in the pages, is it not? 

Unlike the man who is content writing with his mundane ball pen, I decided to do the entire spectrographic analysis of the page. Borrowing stuff from Robin’s room (which I placed back before he found out – he gets pissed when I use his felt pens), I wrote upon the paper with all forms of ink available here at the Bat-cave: a ball pen, a broad nibbed ink pen, felt pen and a roller ball. I waited a few seconds and ran my finger through the sheet.

Flair, Waterman, felt pen man and Parker all tried their hand

As you can see, no smudging. Impressive. Very impressive. No markings on the back of the page too as you would observe in paper of lesser quality.

Of course, I did check the other books too – you can’t just fool me with one good product in three. (Did I mention that I’m Batman, the most awesome detective in the world?) The blue mini diary had the same sturdy feel of the journal and surprisingly still maintained the same two features as well – Matrikas’s stretchable yarn of evil and the envelope of hidden secrets.

The best part? The whole book fits easily in your pant pocket! Excellent once more for scheming plots-on-the-go. Since it's blue, I'm pretty sure Superman would want one.

The bigger notebook chose not to stand out in the crowd, opting to keep its nifty data features within. Like the other books, this one too opens out to a page for personal memoranda and important phone numbers but rather than stick to the single page format for a calendar, this one offers an exclusive page for each of the twelve months along with a heartfelt note about the Saint on the cover.

I don’t know what Crime Master Gogo’s plan is yet but I will say this – these books check out. They are pretty awesome and offer some unique features that other journals don’t. It takes a lot to impress seasoned writers but this book is already being used by the man with an eye for the future, confident of it lasting for many a year to come.

Besides, once Batman (the World’s Greatest Detective, in case I didn’t mention it) approves, you don’t need another seal of approval, do you?

What Bruce Wayne? I told you my name is Batman!

 Author’s note:

 These journals were given to me by Matrikas' with the aim of reviewing them. You can check out  their collection here. As you can see, there are some even more awesome diaries and books in there which really do stand out. The main USP for me (the blogger and not Batman) are 

• The very attractive designs and colour schemes available at the site in colours both sombre and bubbly, based on your tastes and personality.
• Can be purchased online and delivered to your doorstep.
• Wide range, covering all forms of paper products.
• Some nifty innovations.
• Good quality as demonstrated above.
• Decent pricing. 

And yes, the black book is now my official journal of awesomeness for all my stories, while the pocket blue is used exclusively for while I'm traveling.  

You can also follow Matrika's here on Facebook.

Updated (29 Nov 2014):
This entry won me FIRST PRIZE in this contest.