Jugalratna Tiktiki Office

Ashapurna Devi's pickpockets turned investigators, T(n)yapa & Madna (T(n)yapa Charan Pal & Madan Kumar Das) find themselves practically living next door to the victims of a violent crime. Two sets of ornaments from an astrologer's room gets missing and the man was found in a pool of blood but living in the temple inside his residence. The secret chambers, known only to a few, where the valuables were kept was found ransacked and everything missing. The head of the house, the astrologer, was hospitalized and though he recovers his brain seemed to be affected. The members of the huge joint family then seeks help of the local pair of not so well known detectives though several hold them in contempt. Then the story becomes fast paced as the investigators gathers clues and with their near telepathic understanding traps the criminal with damnable evidences. Though some chance happenings help them, as it sometimes happens in detective stories, the best part is that the author acknowledges these in style as she does in all the episodes.

This pair had been introduced during my childhood in one of the magazines but passed into oblivion may be due to the introduction of other private eyes in the fictions. Still I was only fascinated once more going through this piece. The unconventional duo as depicted by Ashapurna Devi is another addition to the class of Bengali detective fictions and as scripted in a dialogue of a character in Anjan Dutta's 'Chalo Let's Go', that every other Bengali writer has his or her series of detectives, Ashapurna Devi's pair though may not be the geniuses but will surely secure the place among the classics.

Aashapurna Devir Chotogalpo Sankalan

An excellent collection of short stories, selected by Aashapurna Devi is presented by National Book Trust and is accompanied by two equally outstanding introductions, the first by the author herself and the other by Nabanita Dev Sen.

Aashapurna’s introduction delves into her becoming an author and also how society influences her works. I was amazed to find that she didn’t ever had a formal education and just by reading of various literatures did she became a self educated lady. In here, she criticizes in a refined way how the present generation is being gradually misled by the false definition of modernization. Also she mentions her pain while observing how the refinement in word and action among people in general and society as a whole in deteriorating considerably.

Nabanita Dev Sen’s introduction is much more a study of Aashapurna’s work and she emphasizes on how the Bengali social structure and the functioning of its people are being portrayed by the author.

As I was going through the stories I was reminded time and again of Aashapurna’s description about her own works. She had once commented that she narrates what she observes happening in society but not for once she justifies the actions. The readers are left to make their own conclusions. Her opus mainly spans over the middle class Bengali and in here she had always shown us how society influences relations, be it between father and newly married son or between the head of the family and the kid servant or sometimes between two complete strangers. The author mercilessly points out how the evils of society force strained relation between a brother and his recently widowed sister-in-law or how a mother and a wife’s jealousy over a man’s love reduces them to shameful behaviours. These and many other social aspects are being revealed by the author in an indifferent tone that characterizes each of her work. Thus the anecdotes sometimes appear too harsh but Aashapurna had never compromised with the truth while at the same time her refined touch has made these chronicles the treasures of Bengali literature. Never have literary creations seemed more modern than this to me.

The index of stories runs as follows:

1. Sob Dik Bojae Rekhe

2. Ekti Mrityu Ebong Aar Ekti

3. Chuti Nakach

4. Trankarta

5. Ahammuk

6. Barir Naam Subhodrishti

7. Barorasta Harie

8. Jagannather Jomi

9. Swarger Ticket

10. Shekal Tule Die

11. Beabru

12. Parajita Hridoe

13. Steeler Aalmari

14. Hatiyar

15. Bhoe

16. Chinnamasta

17. Ghuurnaman Prithibi

18. Banchak

19. Carbon Copy

20. Aayojon