The Caves of Steel

Welcome to the future. Yes it is Asimov and he takes us on a journey to a near future at the wake of C/Fe civilization i.e., the human-robot civilization, the brainchild of the Spacers who had migrated from the Earth to form a world of healthy beings. Yes, the ethical part kept aside, the Spacers, humans from Earth formed a colony of their own by selecting the healthiest of the human race right from birth itself. Thus the nobility of the future, so formed, had, at once, been both the subject of fascination and hatred to the Earthmen. Infact, the human civilization too had undergone a radical change by the construction of steel caves that they named Cities which covered the entire human organization. Ambience, inside these caves, were controlled to suit the need of development and work and thus it was not surprising when we find the household kitchen being replaced by a community dining hall where all the city dwellers timely consumed their daily ration. This automatically gave birth to a sect, appropriately categorized as Mediavalists, that functioned illegally in a hope to bring back the past and crushing anything modern. That they would be against robots was natural but some of them, in course of time, modified their views when they found these choice was automatic and gradually started to cope up with the change. One of these was police officer, Elijah Lije Bailey, whose practical approach seemed to be the apparent reason for his recommendation by his friend and boss, Commissioner Enderby, to investigate the murder of one Dr. Sarton, a specialist in humanoid robots at Spacetown. Lije would have tolerated this not so encouraging task but for the ordeal of being accompanied by a detective robot Daneel Olivaw that seemed too much for him.

A gripping story follows with elaborate paragraphs detailing, for the sake of the readers, the future world in the author’s vision, that increases both in pace and mystery till the very climax. Lije seemed to be bent on accusing the Spacers of the crime but Daneel in each step refuted his views with solid counter proofs. The delicate situation of unmasking the criminal while preventing an impending riot seemed to slip of Lije’s hand at each occassion but the turn of events, each time, seemed to send him back to the right track. The sinister evil lurking behind the crime was finally unveiled by Lije and the readers will thoroughly enjoy the story though a certain amount of concentration is required if its true flavour is to be savoured.

K(n)aatae K(n)aatae - I

Narayan Sanyal’s books had always been my favourite, keeping aside the detective ones, which sampled at a very low rate, had never been too dear to me. But somehow or other this time I had an inspiration of buying those volumes, maybe the interest was spurred when I came to know that these are adaptations of Gardner’s Perry Mason novels. So in the last Boi Mela, I bought the Vol-I of his detective collections featuring the bar-at-law cum investigator Mr. Prasanna K. Basu. But the book had a disappointment in store for me from the very start. If not all, but in at least once in the past that I remember, I was irritated in observing the summary of a detective story with its final solution given in the introduction. Though here the summary is not given but the mere mention of the name of a famous play on which the first story was based is sufficient to dishearten the most avid mystery lover from furthering through the narrative. Not only this, but it so happens that this had been earlier adapted by another Bengali novelist and had been also picturised that was also seen by me, unfortunately. Thus much of my enthusiasm was worn out from the very start. But it was, in no time, rejuvenated when I actually started going through them one after another and finding that the literary content and erudition, though not of the highest quality, sufficient and unique so as to appeal to my feebly inquisitive soul. The introduction mainly contains the author’s inspiration on which he created the detective character and here he showers his gratitude and respect to one of the masters of Bengali detective fiction, Shri Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. But his explanation of the rationale behind creation of Basu seemed unnecessary as Gardner’s Mason and Sanyal’s creation bears more resemblance than his claim of Holmes and Byomkesh. The book contains

1. Sonar K(n)aata
2. Macher K(n)aata
3. Pather K(n)aata
4. Ghorir K(n)aata
5. Kuler K(n)aata

I thought the 1^st one will be an introduction of the detective but was again disappointed as I found my homework was incorrect. It appears that the detective 1^st appeared in Nag Champa and this was its sequel and again Sanyal disappoints the readers by divulging the gist of the earlier novel. I won’t go into the detail and will advise the readers not to look into the introductions before completing this one as, when the story gradually unfolds, they will surely relate it to one of the greatest detective plots in the history of crime fiction. Though devoid of complete analysis of the minor characters but this story is sure to bring pleasure to the readers’ souls.

In Macher K(n)aata whose title never seemed quite appropriate, the story has two very interesting aspects that deserves mention. One was the uniqueness of the plot where the readers are completely taken off guard and the plot is extraordinarily simple but mind boggling and the other was the formation of Sukaushali, the detective firm formed by the couple, Sujata and Kaushik Mitra, that was formed on Basu’s suggestion for helping in his investigations. Rani Devi, wife of Prasanna K. Basu also comes to fore as the complete investigating organization is defined here.

Pather K(n)aata contains a dual plot, one being a self declared challenge of Basu to solve a mystery rooted deep in the past and the other is a murder mystery that boosts the suspense till the final surprising twist. In this novel, astrology plays a definitely important part.

But among the novels, the most puzzling seems to be the 4^th, whose start I found to bear resemblance with a story I had read some times back. It is actually a murder mystery committed on April Fool’s day with the motive being a prized lottery ticket that seemed to be possessed by one among a group of friends. The plot, complicated by a rush of several events on the same day, was logically solved by considering the most important factor, time, that seemed to be overlooked by everybody but the investigator-cum-lawer. The interesting point was Basu saves his innocent client of the accusation but do not handover the criminal to the police. It is upto the reader to judge whether this was motivated by Basu’s social ethics or his professional ethics was the obstacle.

Again a dual mystery is weaved in Kuler K(n)aata but here drama overshadows suspense throughout. The story starts with a conspiracy of false inheritance to a blind and wealthy person but quickly the false identity seems to riddle both the conspirators and the victims. This follows a death that though seems natural but the wealth seems to evaporate with the death too. Basu is called to solve both the inheritance issue and the intriguing riddle that shows the path to the treasure.

Most of the stories are gripping and the storylines quite extraordinary but the only regret was the author’s adaptation of foreign novels. If it were original ideas the mystery lovers and Bengali society would both have been benefitted more than what they now are. Another complaint is about the publishers and the proof readers as there are a number of errors throughout the book and some of them quite vital for the detective fiction. The publishers may please look into them for future editions.

033

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Parashar Barma Samagra 1st

Thanks to one of my web acquintances, I could locate this book in the A. Mukherjee & Co. stall in this year's bookfair. Actually though Premendra Mitra had not been my favourite detective writer but the charm of his writing had always appealed to me. Also in my younger days I'd read stories of Parashar Barma and though he had never seemed like a serious person in his field, but once again the style of writing was unique as far as crime fiction was concerned. The collection that I bought, contained

1. Ghora Kinlen Parashar Barma
2. Ghuri Oralen Parashar Barma
3. Parashar Barma o Bombai Dhandha
4. Du-Noukoe Parashar Barma
5. Premer Prante Parashar
6. Nijer Jobanite Parashar

Each of the stories, except the last, is written from the perspective of Parashar's friend-cum-assistance Krittibas and in almost each of them the utter irritation of Krittibash in Parashar's apparent casual approaches has automatically seeped inside the reader's mind till the final showdown where Parashar's apparently obscure methods are justified and the reader can't help but compliment Parashar in his solutions.
The starting novel originates and culminates in the racing grounds and those that are not conversant with the intricacies of the racing rules will however won't be baffled much as the required regulations are well explained in the story itself. The problem stems when a prize horse is suddenly withdrawn from the race by Parashar that sparks of anger in the audience and the reason, when revealed by Parashar in the end, seemed to establish a heinous crime.
The 2nd story is quite prolonged and the actual mystery is camouflaged till the very end and thus an ordinary reader like me can understand the real culprit well before the criminal is caught red-handed. Though it contains both fortune telling and smuggling, of which the mystery concerning the later is ultimately solved but the author remains silent about the former.
The 3rd mystery, though is an old and proven plot, but the fabrication of the same is done with the ingenuity that really makes one wonder who the criminal is till the very end. It is really satisfying and is one of the superb ones in the collection.
The 4th story is set in the backdrop of Puri beach and Krittibas boards a hotel booked by Parashar with the instruction of sending data of the inmates daily to Parashar. As he religiously does that, suddenly he received a postcard from the sleuth that suggests that a murder is going to be committed there and Krittibas is asked to keep a sharp lookout. Following this Parashar himself arrives and a series of persons go missing. Whether the crimes can be stopped and the criminal identified from the long list of inmates keeps the suspense high for the readers.
The 5th concerns Parashar's sudden interest in astrology and a foreign lady and Krittibash is led to a hotel near the airport where an international criminal on the lookout of looting tourists seems to lurk and it is upon Parashar to unearth the criminal and save the innocent.
The final in the book is again based on false identities and its twist in the final pages again makes it a gem in the collection. Also Parashar's literary ability is revealed as is the author's ingenuity in using a slightly different way of narration so as to properly identify Krittibas's style with that of the detective. Also Krittibas's actual character subjected to Parashar's scrutiny is revealed and is unique in the style of the criminal novels where sleuth is not accustomed to acknowledge the level of intelligence, if any, of the satellites.

Thana Theke Aaschi

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