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.