Hatyapuri

"Hatyapuri", that translated in Bengali means the murderous mansion has also another meaning from the context of the story where murder occurs near the Puri beach, another Bengali favourite. As Feluda and his company starts their holiday at the seaside, murder seems to trail them from the very start. Along with comes theft, an astrologist who can read future in the strangest of ways, a photographer who proclaims to be a victim of attempted murder, a collector of scriptures, a jovial secretary who seems to know a secret. So it is just only natural that the reader will find more than the fair share of drama that detective stories promise. Along with this is a gripping prologue, a new style that Ray introduced in his stories, that reflects his masterful command of the pen and maybe this innovation was a spin-off of his movie making ideas.
As I turned over the pages of this so early read novel, the appeal seems to have increased only further. When a body of a murder victim is discovered on the beaches, a photographer tells about a mysterious mishap and the secretary of the aged collector vanishes with some valuable scriptures, the adventure had already begun that promises an exciting showdown on the sands.

Tritiyo Onko Otoeb

http://calcuttatube.com/tritiyo-onko-otoeb-bengali-drama-review/110005/

Aaro Baro

This classic collection contains another dozen of Satyajit's memorable short anecdotes and runs as

• Loadshedding
• Sahadevbabur Portrait
• Bishful
• Asamanjababur Kukur
• Mr. Sasmaler Shesh Ratri
• Class Friend
  
• Pintur Dadu
• Bhuto
• Chilekotha
• Atithi
• Brihacchanchu
  
• Golokdham Rahasya

The stories takes you through a smooth ride of the human mind and make you think how the strangest of events can take place in the most regular surroundings. Also the psychology of human mind has been the subject of several of these pieces and will keep the readers glued to the pages till the very end. The collection starts with a humorous piece in the backdrop of Calcutta's power cut that sparks off a series of events that will surely bring more than a smile to the reader's faces. The next few deals with confidence tricks - used as a means of sweet revenge or as a practical joke, both coming hard on the victims! A nice message is depicted by the story of the strange dog who could laugh like humans and a horror story reflects once again another message 'crime doesn't pay'. The value of friendship is weighed in the scale of time and a child's contrasting view of a grim world is sketched as we glide through the next few pages. Horror seems to flow freely yet accurately from the hands of the author as he collages magic with the unknown and his compilation is perfect as the story follows up with a narration that chiefly deals with a curious urge of apology for a sin committed years back! Mutual faith is tested when a maternal uncle returns decades after he left home and the next story takes us to a strange land so convincingly portrayed in this country itself from where a pre-historic animal emerges to start a reign of terror that being foiled by the human intelligence. The final piece is as usual the most awaited for, where Feluda and Topshe (no Jatayu here) investigates theft and murder and here too like the 1st story of the lot, load shedding plays a very important part.

Aami Weds Aami

http://calcuttatube.com/aami-weds-aami-bengali-drama-review/109590/

Musalmanir Galpo

http://calcuttatube.com/musalmanir-galpo-2010-bengali-movie-review/108318/

Sastha Ritu

http://calcuttatube.com/sastha-ritu-bengali-drama-review/107896/

Brajaburor Sabuj Baksho

http://calcuttatube.com/brajaburor-sabuj-baksho-bengali-drama-review/107899/

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

http://calcuttatube.com/laboratory-bengali-drama-by-rabindranath-tagore-staged-by-loka-krishti-review/92812/

Chirakumar Sabha

http://calcuttatube.com/chirakumar-sabha-rabindranath-tagore-play-staged-by-chetana-drama-review/92810/