Hemendrakumar Roy Rachanabali Vol – III

The book starts with an adventure Tsarinar Kanthahar and though at the start it seems only Bimal-Kumar are involved but as the trail of the villain becomes more and more complex Jayanta-Manik also appears in the picture. The best thing about Hemen Roy is that he could devise plots and that too adventurous ones in the heart of Calcutta and there lies his ingenuity in the realms if imagination as while normal authors will think adventure in the deceptive crevices, in the dark seabeds and elsewhere, Hemen Roy on the other hand explores the intricacies of the city's by lanes and creates adventure there only. True, the quality of the adventure may not seem too appealing in today's perspective but then it must be remembered that at his time, much of Calcutta had not been turned to 'caves of steel', if I may indulge using the word from Asimov's novel of the same name. Also the villain in this novel plots novel traps and how the quad with Sundarbabu tackles these are sure to keep you interested in the story. An annexe story Ek-Ratrer Bibhishika is a classic short story of its genre and is gripping in its span of only a few pages. I don't know why this is not indexed and also quite confused as to its inclusion as an extension of the the previous novel.

The next feature Sahityik Saratchandra, is as the name implies, about a brief biography of the literary genius of Saratchandra Chattopadhyay. Here, the author starts with a brief history of the Bankim and Rabindra era of Bengali literature and then goes straight to the childhood days of Sarat right from his birth on 1876 and dwells on his early introduction to literature. His love for adventure and dissatisfaction in the disciplined school life both fuelled his passion for literature and several characters with whom he grew up, his sisters, his friend 'Raju', all had found places in his creations, infact these were his tributes to the personalities and places that he were fond of and his literary genius moulded these as central characters in novels like 'Baradidi', 'Srikanta', 'Pather Dabi'. Hemen Roy writes in his own fascinating way the misery that once shadowed the literary life of Saratchandra during his stay at Rangoon and his re-entry in the pages of the magazine Jamuna and following up with his emergence in the more popular Bharatbarsha. The author's research is extensive and his style of writing so enjoyable that it never feels boring while reading this biography. That Saratchandra was a shy speaker but an excellent singer, a revered individual but someone who could mingle easily with the common men - these facts are illustratively described in the article. Finally Hemen Roy went on to a brief discussion on the dramatization of Saratchandra's plays which though encouraged him to attempt at playwriting but those never saw a bolder realization, so unlike of his penmanship as novelist. The discussion also included picturization of several of his novels and how these were successful in the theatres. The person Saratchandra has also been fondly remembered as the author writes of his personal traits, his addictions and his love of beings, both human and animal. Saratchandra's nature was also no less appealing than his novels. This was more apparent when, following his rise to fame and wealth, he still continued his normal lifestyle and invited people, both common and extra-ordinary, in the same way. The great Saratchandra was 9indeed great for these traits. As an addendum, Hemen Roy has included another chapter where he has started with a personal anecdotes centering his first meeting with Saratchandra. Then onwards he has included some refreshing humorous moments shared in the presence of Saratchandra, Saratpandit, Rabindranath and several others. The refreshing way that the article ends again proves the correctness of Premendra Mitra's comments in the introduction of the volume that Hemendrakumar was unique in his writing and this identified him in the crowd of host of other writers of the time.

The story that follows up is Jayanta-Manik's treasure hunt with Sundarbabu in Sonar Anaras where they starts off to solve a riddle directing to some treasure trove secured by centuries of secrecy. Though it is supposed to be a mystery story but adventure predominates and only a touch of the bizarre is added to thrill of the hunt. The villain is identified at the beginning but the treasure is uncovered at the end. Also the rest of the people excepting Jayanta-Manik, Bhushopagla and the evil genius had been portrayed so dumb that the story loses the touch of reality throughout. Thus what remains to be enjoyed is the adventure and the trail of the treasure only!

The next chapters categorized as Bhuter Raja is reserved for short ghost stories and some of them are sure to give creeps. Here the author had followed a new style in quite a few stories. Generally short horror stories have a single climax at the final pages. But in some of the stories when it seems that the climax has passed, turning over the pages it is found that the story is far from its completion and a second climax awaits that intensifies the suspense in a markedly unique way.