Goenda Gargi Samagra (1)

As far as my understanding goes from the short introduction at the back cover of the book it tries to draw parallel with the likes of Byomkesh and Feluda and apparently infers that the sleuth in Gargi had attracted the inquisitive attention of the Bengali readers.

True, it surely attracts attention, but not for its appeal as a mystery story but for the lack of it. I've read Gargi for the young readers and had been inspired by it to buy this one. But it had been a serious mistake. The three stories, viz. Irshar Sabuj Chokh, Bohe Bish Batash and Holud Khamer Rahasya may be ranked as good in the reverse order. This ranking may summarise why the stories could not be as gripping. The concluding one of the volume is the shortest and just by virtue of its length, the gripping tension will keep the readers focussed on the plot. The other two have used a host of characters and several interlacing themes but the way these are introduced just make the story lengthy and takes out any juice in the mystery. The pace have always been fast, infact too fast for the suspense to gather the right momentum and thus the climax is always so unrealistic, borrowing the good old Feluda theme of a meeting will all the characters but without the life in it. Each story had the content of a suspense drama and the characters so similar to those of a Sankar novel but again what is missing, is the reality!

Often the author has mentioned the sharp intellect of Gargi, her acute sense of observations, her skill in identifying the rationale, her ingenuity in analysis but this could have been more subtly highlighted rather mentioned. Emotions run high at certain parts but these dry up the next instant. Criminals are unmasked but only limited words are used to describe their reactions. The spouse of a  murdered victim gets married within a short while. The MD of a busy company finds time to do sleuthing equally efficiently as the business. Add to this is the unique spellings that the print use. With an overabundance of illicit relationships, the stories seem to repeat motives over and over again. Thus each story could have been made more compact without elaborations in parts.

My recommendation is read at its own risk!