Sastha Ritu

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Brajaburor Sabuj Baksho

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Malgudi Days

The last collection of Narayan’s that I went through contained a number of short stories and I found to my delight that these too are treasures of a different kind penned by the creator of Malgudi novels. So this time I researched a bit on the short stories and bought Malgudi Days that contains stories from An Astrologer’s Day, Lawley Road and some other stories. I’m not sure whether the volume contained all from An Astrologer’s Day and Lawley Road but this seemed to be the best collection that I could find in the lot that was optimised both in content and price.

The entire content runs as

From An Astrologer’s Day

· An Astrologer’s Day

· The Missing Mail

· The Doctor’s Word

· Gateman’s Gift

· The Blind Dog

· Fellow-Feeling

· The Tiger’s Claw

· Iswaran

· Such Perfection

· Father’s Help

· The Snake-Song

· Engine Trouble

· Forty-Five a Month

· Out of Business

· Attila

· The Axe

From Lawley Road

· Lawley Road

· Trail of the Green Blazer

· The Martyr’s Corner

· Wife’s Holiday

· A Shadow

· A Willing Slave

· Leela’s Friend

· Mother and Son

New Stories

· Naga

· Selvi

· Second Opinion

· Cat Within

· The Edge

· God and the Cobbler

· Hungry Child

· Emden

After going thru the short introduction by the author, I scurried past the opening story that I’d earlier read to the next ones that took me on a fascinating tour of human nature, be it a postman’s prudence while delivering mails, the human psychology that sometimes plays as an effective placebo to incurable illness, the insecurity of an illiterate pensioner, the blind faith of a dog to the cruellest of masters and confidence trick that sometimes act as the guard against the mightier. Tragedy, not a very common in Narayan’s arts, is also depicted equally well in at least two of the narratives, one portraying the rash act of a student whose sudden success after constant failure hurls him headlong to a way of life that he finds hard to deal with and in the other he sketches the life of a gardener and his feeling towards the garden he fashioned that is awaiting an impending destruction. The author has also narrated the way of Providence that saves mankind in ways curious to the mortals. Swami also pops up in one of the narratives where his innocent view of life and school seems so much similar to our younger days. In the way of these narratives we meet my favourite, the Talkative Man, more than once, sometimes rambling on his close encounter with a man-eater, sometimes recounting his curious adventure as a trainee in flute playing, sometimes with his ill fortune over an unique prize. The author also does not forget the ordinary men and their striving for a decent living that exploits their soul and strains relations. But the silver linings in some also shows how misery is erased and hope regained.Narayan's comic genius also come to the fore when he describes the dumb behaviour of a dog that changes its status from a zero to a hero.
The second of the collection also starts with a story that I'd already come across and this collection seems to be my favourite maybe due to the humorous sides that highlight much of the narratives. Though full of pathos, the first few stories stories ramble past a thief whose sudden flash of kindness is returned very severely, a vendor of sweets reduced to a hotel attendant, the gambler with a disastrous luck, and in all of these, the humorous side seems to brush aside the austere events. But the later ones seem directed towards the harsher side of the coin where a child's craving for his dead father's company in the movie that he acted is weighed against his mother's wish to stay away from the same, the caring habit of a governess being exploited by all, the indifference of the master of the house towards a servant who was once a thief and the eternal relation of love and hate that cycles in families. I don't know whether it is the printer's mistake in quoting Mysore for Malgudi but there was an instance that I found Narayan's story to meander off outside Malgudi into the real world.
The first two and one coming a little late in the list of anecdotes of the final collection were already known to me and was thus given a fleeting glimpse but I was stuck in one of the next stories where the value of a second opinion seemed to be too much lengthened for its worth and for the first time I was disappointed in Narayan. But again enthusiasm was regained in the funny incidents of an excorsist's hoax, the remarkable rationale of a poor cobbler, a curious tour of a heartbroken lover and a lost child in a fair ground and the octogenarian whose ruthless activities in youthful times earned him the same name of a German battleship Emden but who had been reduced to just the opposite in later years.
The book also presents a glossary for regional terms that Narayan has used in each and every of his writings and may be helpful for any Narayan story.
This Indian Thought Publication has no doubt brought Narayan stories to customers at a reasonable price and that they were really thinking hard while designing the book is apparent from the finishing and my thanks to them for this great endeavour. The collection remains one of the closest to heart for Narayan's fans and may be valued as a priceless item to many.

Chinnamastar Abhishap

Curious that when the disgraceful incident at Rajarappa happened, I was going through this Feluda adventure whose backdrop was at Hazaribagh, so very near the Holy site of Chinnamasta temple at Rajarappa.

On a holiday trip to Hazaribagh to spend a few days peacefully in his client’s resthouse, Feluda was once again entrapped in a mystery that consisted of unravelling countless riddles to truth and was made more adventurous by the episode of a run away tiger from the Great Majestic Circus, that was then performing at the same place.

It started when Feluda was invited by a retired lawyer, Mahesh Choudhury at his birthday picnic. Other than our trio, the main other invitees were Choudhury’s eldest son Arun, the youngest, Pritindra, his wife Nilima and daughter, the little Bibi, Mahesh’s childhood friend Akhilbandu Chakrabarty and Shankarlal Mishra, apparently a very dear and near acquaintance of Choudhury. But the picnic didn’t sail so smoothly as planned due to a sudden stroke that attack Maheshbabu and he had to be brought back immediately. Doctor diagnosed a possible mental shock as to the reason for the crisis and Feluda smelled foul play immediately. Maheshbabu ultimately succumbed to death but not before signalling his last wishes to Feluda who seemed to be as much baffled as the others to the meaning of the puzzling signal. But that the signal meant something important was very much apparent due to an attempted robbery at Feluda’s place. Will the detective find the solution to the many questions raised during Choudhury’s death? To know the answer you must read this riddle packed novel with a touch of adventure and a bit of coincidence.

Gorosthane Sabdhan!

Who knew that a mystery was awaiting Feluda right at the heart of Calcutta in the silence of the Park Street Cemetery? It was the magic of Satyajit who could weave mystery in the uncommonnest of places and a full scale thriller was penned by the great personality with the most realistic touch in this novel. This may as well serve as a classic reminder to those who assigns thrill only to foreign surroundings. Even as I flipped through the pages, so many years after I first acquired it, it infused the same thrill that I had when I read it for the 1^st time. The events stared on 24^th June, when Lalmohanbabu took Topshe with Feluda in his newly acquired green ambassador, the vehicle that served in several of the trio’s adventures, on a visit to Job Charnok’s grave. On that fateful day, a Narendranath Biswas was injured at the graveyard following a violent storm that blew @ 140kmph. Feluda, always inquisitive, took it his own responsibility to investigate why Mr. Biswas was wandering at the graves in the evening. While on the tour at the cemetery, Jatayu pointed to a wallet and Feluda’s insightful observations led to a series of incidents that culminated in a race for the priceless souvenir called Perigal Repeater. To know what it is and to enjoy the suspense the story must be savoured and I won’t spoil the excitement by spilling the beans too early. Haripadababu, Jatayu’s driver too played an important role and he too remained a close accomplice in later adventures for the three musketeers. Another important character that emerged in this novel and seemed to remain in the Hall of Fame of Feluda’s thrillers was the rich and aristocratic Mahadev Choudhury whose encounter was both theatrical and spine tingling!

Feluda & Co

The double Feluda stories back to back were 1^st introduced by Satyajit Ray in this book where the sleuth battled the evil brains both in and out of the city.

The collection starts with Bombaier Bombete, a title that was so aptly chosen by the master story teller that hints at both the place of Feluda's adventure and the origin of the bandits. Actually the case comes while Feluda and Topshe accompany Lalmohanbabu to Bombay when one of his novels, "Bombaier Bombete", was selected for a Bollywood release by Jatayu's acquintance turned hindi film director Pulak Ghoshal. But curious events start from the beginning when the author was requested to deliver a small packet to a stranger at Bombay airport by some Sanyal, a self proclaimed Bengali film director. Though the trio didn't have an inkling of any mystery till then but a murder at the premises, where the packet bearer of Bombay airport was seen, triggered of a set of intriguing sequences. Jatayu's reference came up during police enquiry and Sanyal's presence was felt at several places where Feluda & Co. roamed about in the metropolitan. Thus Feluda was automatically involved in the investigation not only to save his friend but also to stop a suspected smuggling. A high paced finish in the backdrop of a shooting site and the writer’s unique style of descriptive narrations would have been a great combination but for some misprints that is slightly irritating at places.

The other one of the collection, G(n)osaipur Saragaram, is a favourite to me not only for its contrasting backdrop in a quite village, so very far from sophisticated amenities of the city, but also for a wittier Feluda with his fantastic insights to human psychology. The truth cleverly camouflaged by the writer at the beginning and the lifestyle of a rural population makes this class apart from other stories in the Feluda series.

Laboratory

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Chirakumar Sabha

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The Caves of Steel

Welcome to the future. Yes it is Asimov and he takes us on a journey to a near future at the wake of C/Fe civilization i.e., the human-robot civilization, the brainchild of the Spacers who had migrated from the Earth to form a world of healthy beings. Yes, the ethical part kept aside, the Spacers, humans from Earth formed a colony of their own by selecting the healthiest of the human race right from birth itself. Thus the nobility of the future, so formed, had, at once, been both the subject of fascination and hatred to the Earthmen. Infact, the human civilization too had undergone a radical change by the construction of steel caves that they named Cities which covered the entire human organization. Ambience, inside these caves, were controlled to suit the need of development and work and thus it was not surprising when we find the household kitchen being replaced by a community dining hall where all the city dwellers timely consumed their daily ration. This automatically gave birth to a sect, appropriately categorized as Mediavalists, that functioned illegally in a hope to bring back the past and crushing anything modern. That they would be against robots was natural but some of them, in course of time, modified their views when they found these choice was automatic and gradually started to cope up with the change. One of these was police officer, Elijah Lije Bailey, whose practical approach seemed to be the apparent reason for his recommendation by his friend and boss, Commissioner Enderby, to investigate the murder of one Dr. Sarton, a specialist in humanoid robots at Spacetown. Lije would have tolerated this not so encouraging task but for the ordeal of being accompanied by a detective robot Daneel Olivaw that seemed too much for him.

A gripping story follows with elaborate paragraphs detailing, for the sake of the readers, the future world in the author’s vision, that increases both in pace and mystery till the very climax. Lije seemed to be bent on accusing the Spacers of the crime but Daneel in each step refuted his views with solid counter proofs. The delicate situation of unmasking the criminal while preventing an impending riot seemed to slip of Lije’s hand at each occassion but the turn of events, each time, seemed to send him back to the right track. The sinister evil lurking behind the crime was finally unveiled by Lije and the readers will thoroughly enjoy the story though a certain amount of concentration is required if its true flavour is to be savoured.

K(n)aatae K(n)aatae - I

Narayan Sanyal’s books had always been my favourite, keeping aside the detective ones, which sampled at a very low rate, had never been too dear to me. But somehow or other this time I had an inspiration of buying those volumes, maybe the interest was spurred when I came to know that these are adaptations of Gardner’s Perry Mason novels. So in the last Boi Mela, I bought the Vol-I of his detective collections featuring the bar-at-law cum investigator Mr. Prasanna K. Basu. But the book had a disappointment in store for me from the very start. If not all, but in at least once in the past that I remember, I was irritated in observing the summary of a detective story with its final solution given in the introduction. Though here the summary is not given but the mere mention of the name of a famous play on which the first story was based is sufficient to dishearten the most avid mystery lover from furthering through the narrative. Not only this, but it so happens that this had been earlier adapted by another Bengali novelist and had been also picturised that was also seen by me, unfortunately. Thus much of my enthusiasm was worn out from the very start. But it was, in no time, rejuvenated when I actually started going through them one after another and finding that the literary content and erudition, though not of the highest quality, sufficient and unique so as to appeal to my feebly inquisitive soul. The introduction mainly contains the author’s inspiration on which he created the detective character and here he showers his gratitude and respect to one of the masters of Bengali detective fiction, Shri Saradindu Bandyopadhyay. But his explanation of the rationale behind creation of Basu seemed unnecessary as Gardner’s Mason and Sanyal’s creation bears more resemblance than his claim of Holmes and Byomkesh. The book contains

1. Sonar K(n)aata
2. Macher K(n)aata
3. Pather K(n)aata
4. Ghorir K(n)aata
5. Kuler K(n)aata

I thought the 1^st one will be an introduction of the detective but was again disappointed as I found my homework was incorrect. It appears that the detective 1^st appeared in Nag Champa and this was its sequel and again Sanyal disappoints the readers by divulging the gist of the earlier novel. I won’t go into the detail and will advise the readers not to look into the introductions before completing this one as, when the story gradually unfolds, they will surely relate it to one of the greatest detective plots in the history of crime fiction. Though devoid of complete analysis of the minor characters but this story is sure to bring pleasure to the readers’ souls.

In Macher K(n)aata whose title never seemed quite appropriate, the story has two very interesting aspects that deserves mention. One was the uniqueness of the plot where the readers are completely taken off guard and the plot is extraordinarily simple but mind boggling and the other was the formation of Sukaushali, the detective firm formed by the couple, Sujata and Kaushik Mitra, that was formed on Basu’s suggestion for helping in his investigations. Rani Devi, wife of Prasanna K. Basu also comes to fore as the complete investigating organization is defined here.

Pather K(n)aata contains a dual plot, one being a self declared challenge of Basu to solve a mystery rooted deep in the past and the other is a murder mystery that boosts the suspense till the final surprising twist. In this novel, astrology plays a definitely important part.

But among the novels, the most puzzling seems to be the 4^th, whose start I found to bear resemblance with a story I had read some times back. It is actually a murder mystery committed on April Fool’s day with the motive being a prized lottery ticket that seemed to be possessed by one among a group of friends. The plot, complicated by a rush of several events on the same day, was logically solved by considering the most important factor, time, that seemed to be overlooked by everybody but the investigator-cum-lawer. The interesting point was Basu saves his innocent client of the accusation but do not handover the criminal to the police. It is upto the reader to judge whether this was motivated by Basu’s social ethics or his professional ethics was the obstacle.

Again a dual mystery is weaved in Kuler K(n)aata but here drama overshadows suspense throughout. The story starts with a conspiracy of false inheritance to a blind and wealthy person but quickly the false identity seems to riddle both the conspirators and the victims. This follows a death that though seems natural but the wealth seems to evaporate with the death too. Basu is called to solve both the inheritance issue and the intriguing riddle that shows the path to the treasure.

Most of the stories are gripping and the storylines quite extraordinary but the only regret was the author’s adaptation of foreign novels. If it were original ideas the mystery lovers and Bengali society would both have been benefitted more than what they now are. Another complaint is about the publishers and the proof readers as there are a number of errors throughout the book and some of them quite vital for the detective fiction. The publishers may please look into them for future editions.

033

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Parashar Barma Samagra 1st

Thanks to one of my web acquintances, I could locate this book in the A. Mukherjee & Co. stall in this year's bookfair. Actually though Premendra Mitra had not been my favourite detective writer but the charm of his writing had always appealed to me. Also in my younger days I'd read stories of Parashar Barma and though he had never seemed like a serious person in his field, but once again the style of writing was unique as far as crime fiction was concerned. The collection that I bought, contained

1. Ghora Kinlen Parashar Barma
2. Ghuri Oralen Parashar Barma
3. Parashar Barma o Bombai Dhandha
4. Du-Noukoe Parashar Barma
5. Premer Prante Parashar
6. Nijer Jobanite Parashar

Each of the stories, except the last, is written from the perspective of Parashar's friend-cum-assistance Krittibas and in almost each of them the utter irritation of Krittibash in Parashar's apparent casual approaches has automatically seeped inside the reader's mind till the final showdown where Parashar's apparently obscure methods are justified and the reader can't help but compliment Parashar in his solutions.
The starting novel originates and culminates in the racing grounds and those that are not conversant with the intricacies of the racing rules will however won't be baffled much as the required regulations are well explained in the story itself. The problem stems when a prize horse is suddenly withdrawn from the race by Parashar that sparks of anger in the audience and the reason, when revealed by Parashar in the end, seemed to establish a heinous crime.
The 2nd story is quite prolonged and the actual mystery is camouflaged till the very end and thus an ordinary reader like me can understand the real culprit well before the criminal is caught red-handed. Though it contains both fortune telling and smuggling, of which the mystery concerning the later is ultimately solved but the author remains silent about the former.
The 3rd mystery, though is an old and proven plot, but the fabrication of the same is done with the ingenuity that really makes one wonder who the criminal is till the very end. It is really satisfying and is one of the superb ones in the collection.
The 4th story is set in the backdrop of Puri beach and Krittibas boards a hotel booked by Parashar with the instruction of sending data of the inmates daily to Parashar. As he religiously does that, suddenly he received a postcard from the sleuth that suggests that a murder is going to be committed there and Krittibas is asked to keep a sharp lookout. Following this Parashar himself arrives and a series of persons go missing. Whether the crimes can be stopped and the criminal identified from the long list of inmates keeps the suspense high for the readers.
The 5th concerns Parashar's sudden interest in astrology and a foreign lady and Krittibash is led to a hotel near the airport where an international criminal on the lookout of looting tourists seems to lurk and it is upon Parashar to unearth the criminal and save the innocent.
The final in the book is again based on false identities and its twist in the final pages again makes it a gem in the collection. Also Parashar's literary ability is revealed as is the author's ingenuity in using a slightly different way of narration so as to properly identify Krittibas's style with that of the detective. Also Krittibas's actual character subjected to Parashar's scrutiny is revealed and is unique in the style of the criminal novels where sleuth is not accustomed to acknowledge the level of intelligence, if any, of the satellites.

Thana Theke Aaschi

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