Doctor on Toast

A chronicle from Richard Gordon's famous Doctor series, the 1st part of this humorous narrative features Dr. Gaston Grimsdyke falling for a girl who is already engaged to one of his college chums, Basil Bauchamp. To stick with the girl the doc manages to get himself appointed for the post of a ship doctor on which the girl is sailing only to find Basil as a steward in the cruise. What follows are some hilarious situations in which it becomes increasingly difficult for the doc to conceal his actual motive of sailing from his friend. After this episode, the story mainly revolves around Grimsdyke's compilation of the biography of Sir Lancelot Spratt who is seen to be taking an active interest in murder cases and is thus on the lookout of murderers everywhere. Unfortunately this puts him in all sorts of embarrassing situations and Grimsdyke is also drawn into them. To make matters worse the relatives and the in-laws of Sir Spratt adds to these confusions.
On the whole, the book is an enjoyable read but at places the continuity of the humour seems a bit lacking.

Arjun Samagra Vol I

The volume contains the making of a young detective in Arjun. Samaresh Majumder started these tales mainly for the young readers on the request of Nirendranath Chakravarti.
In Khunkharapi, a collection of two stories, we find the young Arjun on the quest for a job like any other Bengali youth after completing his graduation. His first job lands him under a contractor, Pritam Singh who undertakes a project of herding off group of wild elephants that were causing chaos in the nearby areas of Khutimari Range, North Bengal. Here he gets acquinted with a person called Tinkari who is regarded by the locals as a good-for-nothing lazybone. But, Arjun finds this apparently comic character interesting and somewhat knowledgable and gets him a job as a labour under his supervision. But his movements sometimes makes Arjun apprehensive about his true character. Next the story describes how Arjun carries on his job and while doing so, how he makes a close shave of his life when all of a sudden his team bumps into a pack of elephants. At night also the elephants are seen near their camp but curiously enough after midnight a peculiar sound drives them off. Arjun tries to find the source of the noise and while doing so unknowingly gets himself ready for another danger. The story ends with Arjun finding himself as a pawn in the game between smugglers and the guardians of peace. In the second story, also set in the mountanoues North Bengal, Arjun assists his mentor Amal Som in defending the treasure of a Buddhist Monastery near Kalimpong. Here we are introduced with a new character Bishnu Charan Patranabish aka Bistu Saheb, a respected figure and a long timer at the hills.
In Sitaharan Rahasya, again a collection of two stories related by the plot centering a young teenagae girl Sita, daughter of a long time Bengali resident in States. In the first of the stories, Arjun finds himself acting as a guard to Sita, who against her father's wishes tries to escape to the States to join the punk community from where she had been disunited by her father. Arjun, under the guidance of Amal Som manages to avoid Sita's kidnap as the story ends. In the next chapter, Amal & Arjun are again employed to retrieve Sita in Chandigarh from where she had been kidnapped. Here the presence of Bishnu Charan Patranabish breaths comic relief to the thriller.
The next collection is Lighter. In the two stories that follows, Arjun, now not so much as an amateur as the earlier stories had depicted, is on the trail of two missing lighters manufactured by a foreign company. The lighters, originally designed for the FBI, not only served the purpose of lighting a cigar, but also acted as a very powerful weapon. Reports of two of them being stolen by anti-social elements reach Arjun and he is set in the trail of finding them. Here, again a new charachter in the form of a retd Major, being a relation to Bistu Saheb appears and he accompanies Arjun in the adventures that ensue. These episodes also find Arjun in the States during his pursuit of the lost lighters.
Following this collection is the novel Jutoe Rakter Daag where we find Arjun, on the request of Major accompanies the latter on his visit to England while returning from America. Major's motive was to spend a few days with his friend, Marshal who is researching on pearl culture in an isolated island. But again there is trouble as Major buys a second-hand boot much to the irritation of another gang who is also on its lookout. As Arjun senses trouble, he examines and finds that the boot contains the location of some hidden object. As Major & Arjun teams up for the trail, they find themselves in grave dangers from the gang. Many characters are introduced in this story the chief ones being a female magician, a Mr. Brown, the look-a-like of Major, Marshal, the evil Dr. Hatch and their henhmen. The climax of the story is beneath the ocean where Arjun tries to fight off the villains with an underwater grenade launcher. The story is full of adventure than mystery but the narrative is both gripping and enjoyable at places.
The final novel of the volume is Derdin, where Arjun is requested by Amal Som to act as a bodyguard to a group of ladies on their holiday tour of North Bengal. But here too Arjun is intrigued by some information that the local people of slum areas are taking small loans against minute quantity of gold that they are claiming to be among their ancestral possession. Arjun senses foul play and though he takes the girls on their tour but also tries to pin down the villain, whom he suspects to be the suppllier of the stolen gold. Problem arises when the girls discover the body of a murdered man and a large ape in its vicinity. Also there are characters like the mysterious Mr. Verma who is an acquintance to one of the girls but his movements are quite suspicious, an old lady, one Baldev and Mr. Puri, a hot tempered lodger who apparently doesn't come out of his room. This Arjun story has the best blend of mystery and adventure in this volume.
On the whole, the Arjun stories are a plesant read from the point of view of adventure stories and also the aroma of the mountaneous North Bengal is an added treasure to them. But from mystery stand point the amount of coincedences to assist Arjun in his trail is too large and so I don't feel they can be considered as successful detective novels. Thus in all the narratives we find that it is the adventure that gets the upperhand over detection.
Footnote: While surfing the net, I came across this wonderful site called boimela.in that actually was a Bengali Book Shop with online purchasing facilities. I left this review on their site & it was accepted. Here I attach the link for those of u who r interested https://www.boimela.in/index.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=15&reviews_id=4.

Narayan Gangopadhyay's Galpa Samgagra Vol I

Sometimes these stories seem so commonplace, very ordinary anecdotes of the common Bengali. But these again reminds us that we ourselves are the people whose day to day activities can be perceived in the same manner as an avid reader saluting the works of the great master. Mr. Gangopadhyay has once again provided inspiration and encouragement to all the classes that comprises the Bengalis in their journey to seek comfort in these days of apparent misery. He shows us the optimist's way to understand the world. Thus we find the poverty stricken parents of four, as they expect a fifth child, is torn between guilt and conscience as to whether to go for the option of abortion. The story ends with an optimistic touch that echoes the joys of life amid its apparent wretchedness. In another story, we find a book seller recounting his youth as a budding writer who gives up writing as the realization of practical life of supporting his own self and family dawns upon him. Though in the process, his romantic dream is shattered but again at the end we find him happy with his practical mind set. The story of a tribal father and son wonderfully portrays the blossoming of the son's maturity as they encounter a fierce tiger in the forest and thus infuses hope of survival to his father. Again there is the age old tale of ego and false ego between the husband and wife depited beautifully with love triumphing over career for a famous singer. Among all the short stories that this volume comprises of, only a few finishes with a note of gloom as in the case of a student of a freedom fighter who ahd come from the villages for a better education but falls prey to the greed of the materialistic business class and leaves all hope of a respectable future. The volume also contains stories reminiscent of the influence of some great authors namely Saratchandra in the story of the studious narrator getting attracted to the wild nature of his friend so as to evade his father's strict orders that prevails at home. There is also a touch of O. Henry in the story where the leading heroine of a drama is made to deliver her best by playing with her emotions. We are made to remember Sibram's 'Bari Thehe Palie' in a story of a homeseek child admitted in a hostel. But the concluding stories are devoid the optimistic touch, rather they portray the negative aspects of the human mind and its craving for easy money for which some doesn't feel the least concern while cheating or depriving the poorer class of their rights. These stories are woven in varied fabrics and the cast of characters ranges from simple country folks to the city dwellers, the rich lords to the downtrodden class, the academicians to the illiterates. As a whole these anecdotes made me feel as if the real taste of Bengali literature will be incomplete without these.

The index is as follows:

1. Lakkhir Pa

i. Lakkhir Pa

ii. Dwaita

iii. Prapat

iv. Commission

v. Jachai

vi. Gacher Sari

vii. Kaalpurush

viii. Aaro Ekjon

ix. Mohiner Kaka

x. Madhyakarshan

2. Subhokkhan

i. Ribbonbandha Bhaluk

ii. Keya

iii. Sanchar

iv. Udbodhan

v. Uttam Purush

vi. Khuni

vii. Tilangama

viii. Mahala

ix. Ekti Chithi

x. Record

xi. Titir

xii. Subhokkhan

3. Aaleyar Raat

i. Aaleyar Raat

ii. Tutul

iii. Asansoler Lokta

4. Exhibition

i. Pratipakhya

ii. Mananiya Parikhak Mahasae Samipeshu

iii. Kandari

iv. Exhibition

v. Amononita

vi. Geelti

vii. Atithya

viii. Madhubanti

ix. Daam

x. Raanir Galpa

xi. Gali

xii. Ranga Maashima

5. Beetangsa

i. Beetangsa

ii. Haar

iii. Pradip O Projapoti

iv. Treen

v. Nishachar

vi. Sainik

The Seven Dials Mystery

Another Agatha Christie novel with a new and unexpected twist near the end that makes this an unique read. The novel starts when some young folks, while on a holiday, plan a prank to be played on one of their friends who is notorious for being a very late riser. The plan was to wake him up from his slumber by arranging 8 alarum clocks to go off at regular intervals next morning. The clocks perform efficiently but the person never wakes. On investigation it was found that the person died with an overdose of chloral. But the curious thing was that of the 8 clocks that were arranged on a table right beside the victim, one of them was thrown outside and the other 7 were neatly arranged in a row. This makes Jimmy Thesigar, a friend of the victim, curious. The inquisitive Lady Eileen Caterham also finds the fact curious and following another murder, starts inquiring on her own. She teams up with Jimmy and Loraine, the first victim's half-sister and also with the help of a Scotland Yard cop, Superintended Battle tries to delve out the truth. In the process she stumbles upon a secret gathering of 7 persons in the Seven Dials club but could not identify their faces due to their masks. Here she comes to know that there will be an attempted robbery on a classified document at a gathering. She informs the other 2 and tries to prevent the theft. After this the story becomes gripping and ultimately an unanticipated surprise for the readers near the end brings the truth to light.
The narrative is studded with some amusing dialogues but the serious who-dun-it nature is not at all compromised anywhere & the mute smartness of Battle is an enjoyable contrast with the vigour of the young sleuths.

Hoccheta Ki

The film directed by Basu Chatterjee features a varied cast of artists who had pumped a breath of fresh air in these modern days of Bengal films where a comedy based story line has become a thing of the past.
The film features a Calcutta based medical representative, Madhu Sen (Prasenjit) who is caught up in an extramarital affair with a lonely lady Juhi(Arunima) who doesn't know that Madhu is married. Madhu, whose job usually keeps him out of town fairly regularly doesn't find it hard to bluff either his wife Priya(Pauli) or Juhi about his movements. He also buys Juhi a flat at Darga Road while he continues to live with his wife at Ballygunge place. But the trouble starts when Madhu and Juhi plans for the 3rd time to get married in court and on the same day Madhu promises his wife and job less rich friend Ranjit (Rajatava) of a aternoon lunch at a restaurant. Madhu's plan was to keep his promise with his wife and Ranjit and after the lunch would pretend to leave for a tour to Digha while in actuality he had asked Arunima that they will get married in the evening and start on their 3 days honeymoon to Digha. The problem arises in the form of a lady being robbed of her valuables by street goons in front of a bus-stand where Madhu was waiting to return home to keep his promise. On seeing the lady in distress, Madhu tries to save her but gets flogged on the head and black outs. As he is being shifted to a hospital a confused Madhu enters his Darga Road address in the hospital register. Meanwhile both his wife and Juhi files missing person's diary respectively in Ballygunge PS & Darga Road PS. On regaining consciousness, Madhu allows a cop (Ramaprasad Banik) of Ballygunge PS to accompany him to his Ballygunge residence much to the later's confusion about his real address.
Next starts the hilarious sequences of misadventures, misinterpretations and misunderstandings where the better part of the comedy being shared by Rajatava, Mr. Banik and Paran
Bandhyopadhyay who plays the role of the Darga Road cop investgating the dissapearance of Madhu. The story ends in a happy note.
Though the middle part of the movie is awfully exciting but the start could have been made more livelier and the end less abrupt. But as a whole it is a amusing piece of movie and worth watching!