Selam Professor Shonku

I had always been an ardent collector of Ray's works. But the collection, published posthumously, had quite some oddities in store. Not because it contained the incomplete Intelectron where Nakurbabu would have starred promisingly as well as Drexel Islander Ghatana but for some other facts. Infact the incomplete works will be cherished forever but for the fact that the final one conflicts with Prof. Shonku's own note in Swarnaparni about the actual date of his birth. The later and Don Cristobaldyr Bhabisyatbani had been the best of the collection where his friend Saunders played a very vital role in both. Also it's very much apparent that Ray condemned Hitler's obsession as was apparent from it as well as from Shonku o Frankestein where the discovery of the scientist of the famous classic has been given a new life. The stories also feature a philosophical Ray where afterlife, rebirth, power of mind over matter, nostalgia seems to hover very similarly as Sukumar Ray's final verses. But disappointment accompanies the starter Nefrudeter Samadhi and Dr. Danielir Aviskar, the later sharing the plot of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, both of which starts with Ray style but completes abruptly, so unlike Ray without the signature finishing twist. The illustrations are mix of Ray's orginals with that of Sameer Sarkar though marked difference of the styles being prominent but both complements the other well.

Shonku ekai 100

Robots, intelligent beings and aliens have always found a deligtful place in sci-fi. So it is only natural that Prof. Shonku will be introduced to these at some stage of his scientific adventures. The thrill of adventure mixed with the science fictions thus gave it the signature flavour but Ray's masterstroke seem to lay elsewhere. He introduced a unique character in the shape of Nakurbabu. The so ordinary Bengali accidentally gifted with not so ordinary abilities that Shonku also finds extraordinary to the extreme. This character has been a particular favourite to me and his evolution in Shonku stories has been so natural that he never seemed out of place. The stories also feature Shonku's long time associates - Saunders, a grim believer in science till he came in touch with Nakurbabu and Kroll, a scientific man but contrastingly with a strong interest in occult, voodoo and phenomenon that can't be explained by science. Another particular uniqueness of the author is the description of the well known sci-fi characters. The UFO's are of shapes that are not only characteristic but the stories actually convinces the rationale of the shapes. In fact in one of the stories I found some uncanny similarity of one of the gadgets exhibited by the UFO and its evil use (thought by Ray so long ago) that resembles the same in the film Independence Day (released quite a few years later). So the volume containing Mahakasher Dwut, Shonkur Congo Abhijaan, Nakurbabu o El Dorado, Professor Shonku o U.F.O. is again an item that collectors will crave for.