Doshti Kishore Upanyas

This compilation for the young contains

• Gourer Kaboch
• Harano Kakatua 
• Golmaal 
• Chakrapurer Chakkare
• Chhayamoe
• Sonar Medal
• Patalghar 
• Haripurer Harek Kando 
• Dudhsayarer Dweep
• Bipinbabur Bipod

As obvious of Shirshendu's works, the novels consists of a conglomeration of weird characters, human and others, all weaved into adventures that will bring smile to the faces. Fun and frolick galore, all the adventures underlines pleasant messages that freshens the heart and appeases the soul. I'd already commented on Gourer Kaboch in an earlier post so won't go into any detail. Infact all the novels contains the same proportion of adventure and mystery combined with laughter and humour that makes these a treasure item. Especially I must mention Patalghar that I'd watched but I'll say that the story surpasses the film version by miles. Personally I feel Harano Kakatua to be a bit stretched but all the others had been just too good. Golmaal can be considered as a sequel to Bhuture Ghori. The next Chakrapurer Chakkare is a wonderful anecdote of a young man coming to terms with his heritage while Chhayamoe complements this storyline. The next Sonar Medal reunites an estranged pair. A quest for secret treasure is the central plot is Haripurer Harek Kando and the same quest continues but culminates in the classic sacrifice in Dudhsayarer Dweep. But the best climax is of Bipinbabur Bipod that along with the preceding story seems to be ideal short story in the volume.

Bagher Nakh

An ardent collector of Anandamela in my childhood days, I was enveloped in nostalgia when I came upon a short story by Adrish Bardhan from the pages of an old edition of Anadamela. It featured Indranath Rudra and his right hand Mriganka. Though this fast paced detective story is not so mind boggling but the charm of the old magazine freshened my spirit. A fine read it can be a good introduction to those not conversant with literary pieces of Bardhanbabu.

Nagchampa

A mystery story enveloped in a social drama introduced P.K. Basu, the lawyer sleuth of Narayan Sanyal. Also introduced in the same novel, were the Tommy & Tuppence of Bengali mystery story – Kaushik and Sujata. Infact, the story revolved more around Sujata than on anybody else with Kaushik playing a significant role in it. P.K. Basu entered the drama at a very later stage, that too in the capacity of an investigating lawyer with a client about whom the author remained curiously silent, though it can be logically concluded who it might be.

The story is about the civil engineer-cum-researcher Mr. Chatterjee, foster father to Sujata. Mr. Chatterjee made a breakthrough inventing a cheaper hollow block with a strength of the traditional blocks for construction. But a curious ailment took his life just on the very night he documented his research. It was the prudence of Sujata who could hide the documents from the clutches of the greedy industrialists and politicians but at a cost of being detained at her home. As she used all her wisdom to prevent the research papers from reaching the wrong hands a curious rush of events made all her calculations go awry. From then onwards the story takes a tremendous pace and the author’s magnificent way of story telling keeps the readers glued with climactic courtroom drama and a sensational revelation in an apparently social gathering.

But there are certain very disappointing aspects of the novel. The first is a very prolonged introduction of the story cluttered with poems that, though initially felt relevant but finally loses its implications. Second is among the several mysteries that remained unanswered, the most important one was the death of Mr. Chatterjee whose cause was not revealed at all. Thirdly was the extensive use of civil engineering terms that once again makes it shelved for its fullest enjoyment for a certain class of people.