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

One Two Three

A Ashwani Dheer movie featuring an appealing star cast of Paresh Rawal, Suniel Shetty, Esha Deol, Tushar Kapoor and others thus promising a totally entertaining two and half hours.
The chief plot centres a diamond but the main theme is a case of mistaken identity and in this case it is not about two persons with the same name but for a change there are three persons with the same name! The 1st Laxmi Narayan is a budding contract killer whose mother's only wish is to get the son settled as a professional underworld don but the son always messes up his contract. The 2nd Laxmi Narayan is a MBA grad turned executive from Jharkhand who follows two simple rules. Rule#1 is 'the boss is always right' & Rule#2 is 'if the boss is wrong follow rule#1'. The 3rd Laxmi Narayan is a veteran lingerie seller who, though have made milliong by selling lingerie from childhood, continues his business by exhibiting his goods on the bonnets of cars.
The actual story starts with a Mumbai Don (Manoj Pahwa) asking one of his men to get a diamond from an associate. While doing so the person is murdered by two comical henchmen of another Don named Papa. The dying man manages to hide the diamond and hands them over to Chandu & Chandni, two caretakers of a car showroom owned by Laila. They in turn hides the diamond in a car's petrol tank and that happens to be the same car that the executive Laxmi Narayan is sent for to purchase for his boss's mistress. But the car happens to be the car of Jiya, a lingerie designer and Laila's friend, who had asked for her car to be sold to earn some money. Meanwhile, the Mumbai Don sends hitman Laxmi Narayn to avenge the death of his man and to retrieve the diamond. At the same time the son of the lingerie seller Laxmi Narayan sends his father to get lingerie designs from Jiya. All the three Laxmi Narayans arive at the same hotel at Pondi and receives parcels meant that is not meant from them. Thus the killer Laxmi Narayan gets the picture of Jiya and thinks that she is to be his intended victim, the exec Laxmi Narayan gets the picture of Don Papa sitting in an ordinary car and assumes that the car in the picture is the car he will be buying, the seller Laxmi Narayan gets the picture of Jiya's car with Laila in bikini giving a pose for the car's advertisement and mistakenly feels that the design of his latest lingerie will be the same as that in the snap.
So the stage is now ready for some hilarious comedy and just don't rake the brain much while watching the movie in which case, I promise, it will be an entertaining watch with a nice ending. The main attraction of the movie is the 3 Laxmi Narayans and I felt that the best acting is by Sanjay Mishra as henchman Pinto to Don Papa. Suniel Shetty and Manoj Pahwa also shines closely followed by Paresh Rawal. Murli Sharma in his short appearance also excels while Neetu Chandra in her role as Inspector Mayawati nicely fits into the show with her sensuous Haryana dialect and her longing for executive Laxmi Narayan. Mukesh Tiwari (Don Papa), Vrijesh Hirji(henchman#1 Albert) also are good but Tanisha & Upen Patel sometimes made me feel what the hell has happened to their acting brain?

Doctor on Toast

A chronicle from Richard Gordon's famous Doctor series, the 1st part of this humorous narrative features Dr. Gaston Grimsdyke falling for a girl who is already engaged to one of his college chums, Basil Bauchamp. To stick with the girl the doc manages to get himself appointed for the post of a ship doctor on which the girl is sailing only to find Basil as a steward in the cruise. What follows are some hilarious situations in which it becomes increasingly difficult for the doc to conceal his actual motive of sailing from his friend. After this episode, the story mainly revolves around Grimsdyke's compilation of the biography of Sir Lancelot Spratt who is seen to be taking an active interest in murder cases and is thus on the lookout of murderers everywhere. Unfortunately this puts him in all sorts of embarrassing situations and Grimsdyke is also drawn into them. To make matters worse the relatives and the in-laws of Sir Spratt adds to these confusions.
On the whole, the book is an enjoyable read but at places the continuity of the humour seems a bit lacking.

Arjun Samagra Vol I

The volume contains the making of a young detective in Arjun. Samaresh Majumder started these tales mainly for the young readers on the request of Nirendranath Chakravarti.
In Khunkharapi, a collection of two stories, we find the young Arjun on the quest for a job like any other Bengali youth after completing his graduation. His first job lands him under a contractor, Pritam Singh who undertakes a project of herding off group of wild elephants that were causing chaos in the nearby areas of Khutimari Range, North Bengal. Here he gets acquinted with a person called Tinkari who is regarded by the locals as a good-for-nothing lazybone. But, Arjun finds this apparently comic character interesting and somewhat knowledgable and gets him a job as a labour under his supervision. But his movements sometimes makes Arjun apprehensive about his true character. Next the story describes how Arjun carries on his job and while doing so, how he makes a close shave of his life when all of a sudden his team bumps into a pack of elephants. At night also the elephants are seen near their camp but curiously enough after midnight a peculiar sound drives them off. Arjun tries to find the source of the noise and while doing so unknowingly gets himself ready for another danger. The story ends with Arjun finding himself as a pawn in the game between smugglers and the guardians of peace. In the second story, also set in the mountanoues North Bengal, Arjun assists his mentor Amal Som in defending the treasure of a Buddhist Monastery near Kalimpong. Here we are introduced with a new character Bishnu Charan Patranabish aka Bistu Saheb, a respected figure and a long timer at the hills.
In Sitaharan Rahasya, again a collection of two stories related by the plot centering a young teenagae girl Sita, daughter of a long time Bengali resident in States. In the first of the stories, Arjun finds himself acting as a guard to Sita, who against her father's wishes tries to escape to the States to join the punk community from where she had been disunited by her father. Arjun, under the guidance of Amal Som manages to avoid Sita's kidnap as the story ends. In the next chapter, Amal & Arjun are again employed to retrieve Sita in Chandigarh from where she had been kidnapped. Here the presence of Bishnu Charan Patranabish breaths comic relief to the thriller.
The next collection is Lighter. In the two stories that follows, Arjun, now not so much as an amateur as the earlier stories had depicted, is on the trail of two missing lighters manufactured by a foreign company. The lighters, originally designed for the FBI, not only served the purpose of lighting a cigar, but also acted as a very powerful weapon. Reports of two of them being stolen by anti-social elements reach Arjun and he is set in the trail of finding them. Here, again a new charachter in the form of a retd Major, being a relation to Bistu Saheb appears and he accompanies Arjun in the adventures that ensue. These episodes also find Arjun in the States during his pursuit of the lost lighters.
Following this collection is the novel Jutoe Rakter Daag where we find Arjun, on the request of Major accompanies the latter on his visit to England while returning from America. Major's motive was to spend a few days with his friend, Marshal who is researching on pearl culture in an isolated island. But again there is trouble as Major buys a second-hand boot much to the irritation of another gang who is also on its lookout. As Arjun senses trouble, he examines and finds that the boot contains the location of some hidden object. As Major & Arjun teams up for the trail, they find themselves in grave dangers from the gang. Many characters are introduced in this story the chief ones being a female magician, a Mr. Brown, the look-a-like of Major, Marshal, the evil Dr. Hatch and their henhmen. The climax of the story is beneath the ocean where Arjun tries to fight off the villains with an underwater grenade launcher. The story is full of adventure than mystery but the narrative is both gripping and enjoyable at places.
The final novel of the volume is Derdin, where Arjun is requested by Amal Som to act as a bodyguard to a group of ladies on their holiday tour of North Bengal. But here too Arjun is intrigued by some information that the local people of slum areas are taking small loans against minute quantity of gold that they are claiming to be among their ancestral possession. Arjun senses foul play and though he takes the girls on their tour but also tries to pin down the villain, whom he suspects to be the suppllier of the stolen gold. Problem arises when the girls discover the body of a murdered man and a large ape in its vicinity. Also there are characters like the mysterious Mr. Verma who is an acquintance to one of the girls but his movements are quite suspicious, an old lady, one Baldev and Mr. Puri, a hot tempered lodger who apparently doesn't come out of his room. This Arjun story has the best blend of mystery and adventure in this volume.
On the whole, the Arjun stories are a plesant read from the point of view of adventure stories and also the aroma of the mountaneous North Bengal is an added treasure to them. But from mystery stand point the amount of coincedences to assist Arjun in his trail is too large and so I don't feel they can be considered as successful detective novels. Thus in all the narratives we find that it is the adventure that gets the upperhand over detection.
Footnote: While surfing the net, I came across this wonderful site called boimela.in that actually was a Bengali Book Shop with online purchasing facilities. I left this review on their site & it was accepted. Here I attach the link for those of u who r interested https://www.boimela.in/index.php?main_page=product_reviews_info&products_id=15&reviews_id=4.

Narayan Gangopadhyay's Galpa Samgagra Vol I

Sometimes these stories seem so commonplace, very ordinary anecdotes of the common Bengali. But these again reminds us that we ourselves are the people whose day to day activities can be perceived in the same manner as an avid reader saluting the works of the great master. Mr. Gangopadhyay has once again provided inspiration and encouragement to all the classes that comprises the Bengalis in their journey to seek comfort in these days of apparent misery. He shows us the optimist's way to understand the world. Thus we find the poverty stricken parents of four, as they expect a fifth child, is torn between guilt and conscience as to whether to go for the option of abortion. The story ends with an optimistic touch that echoes the joys of life amid its apparent wretchedness. In another story, we find a book seller recounting his youth as a budding writer who gives up writing as the realization of practical life of supporting his own self and family dawns upon him. Though in the process, his romantic dream is shattered but again at the end we find him happy with his practical mind set. The story of a tribal father and son wonderfully portrays the blossoming of the son's maturity as they encounter a fierce tiger in the forest and thus infuses hope of survival to his father. Again there is the age old tale of ego and false ego between the husband and wife depited beautifully with love triumphing over career for a famous singer. Among all the short stories that this volume comprises of, only a few finishes with a note of gloom as in the case of a student of a freedom fighter who ahd come from the villages for a better education but falls prey to the greed of the materialistic business class and leaves all hope of a respectable future. The volume also contains stories reminiscent of the influence of some great authors namely Saratchandra in the story of the studious narrator getting attracted to the wild nature of his friend so as to evade his father's strict orders that prevails at home. There is also a touch of O. Henry in the story where the leading heroine of a drama is made to deliver her best by playing with her emotions. We are made to remember Sibram's 'Bari Thehe Palie' in a story of a homeseek child admitted in a hostel. But the concluding stories are devoid the optimistic touch, rather they portray the negative aspects of the human mind and its craving for easy money for which some doesn't feel the least concern while cheating or depriving the poorer class of their rights. These stories are woven in varied fabrics and the cast of characters ranges from simple country folks to the city dwellers, the rich lords to the downtrodden class, the academicians to the illiterates. As a whole these anecdotes made me feel as if the real taste of Bengali literature will be incomplete without these.

The index is as follows:

1. Lakkhir Pa

i. Lakkhir Pa

ii. Dwaita

iii. Prapat

iv. Commission

v. Jachai

vi. Gacher Sari

vii. Kaalpurush

viii. Aaro Ekjon

ix. Mohiner Kaka

x. Madhyakarshan

2. Subhokkhan

i. Ribbonbandha Bhaluk

ii. Keya

iii. Sanchar

iv. Udbodhan

v. Uttam Purush

vi. Khuni

vii. Tilangama

viii. Mahala

ix. Ekti Chithi

x. Record

xi. Titir

xii. Subhokkhan

3. Aaleyar Raat

i. Aaleyar Raat

ii. Tutul

iii. Asansoler Lokta

4. Exhibition

i. Pratipakhya

ii. Mananiya Parikhak Mahasae Samipeshu

iii. Kandari

iv. Exhibition

v. Amononita

vi. Geelti

vii. Atithya

viii. Madhubanti

ix. Daam

x. Raanir Galpa

xi. Gali

xii. Ranga Maashima

5. Beetangsa

i. Beetangsa

ii. Haar

iii. Pradip O Projapoti

iv. Treen

v. Nishachar

vi. Sainik

The Seven Dials Mystery

Another Agatha Christie novel with a new and unexpected twist near the end that makes this an unique read. The novel starts when some young folks, while on a holiday, plan a prank to be played on one of their friends who is notorious for being a very late riser. The plan was to wake him up from his slumber by arranging 8 alarum clocks to go off at regular intervals next morning. The clocks perform efficiently but the person never wakes. On investigation it was found that the person died with an overdose of chloral. But the curious thing was that of the 8 clocks that were arranged on a table right beside the victim, one of them was thrown outside and the other 7 were neatly arranged in a row. This makes Jimmy Thesigar, a friend of the victim, curious. The inquisitive Lady Eileen Caterham also finds the fact curious and following another murder, starts inquiring on her own. She teams up with Jimmy and Loraine, the first victim's half-sister and also with the help of a Scotland Yard cop, Superintended Battle tries to delve out the truth. In the process she stumbles upon a secret gathering of 7 persons in the Seven Dials club but could not identify their faces due to their masks. Here she comes to know that there will be an attempted robbery on a classified document at a gathering. She informs the other 2 and tries to prevent the theft. After this the story becomes gripping and ultimately an unanticipated surprise for the readers near the end brings the truth to light.
The narrative is studded with some amusing dialogues but the serious who-dun-it nature is not at all compromised anywhere & the mute smartness of Battle is an enjoyable contrast with the vigour of the young sleuths.

Hoccheta Ki

The film directed by Basu Chatterjee features a varied cast of artists who had pumped a breath of fresh air in these modern days of Bengal films where a comedy based story line has become a thing of the past.
The film features a Calcutta based medical representative, Madhu Sen (Prasenjit) who is caught up in an extramarital affair with a lonely lady Juhi(Arunima) who doesn't know that Madhu is married. Madhu, whose job usually keeps him out of town fairly regularly doesn't find it hard to bluff either his wife Priya(Pauli) or Juhi about his movements. He also buys Juhi a flat at Darga Road while he continues to live with his wife at Ballygunge place. But the trouble starts when Madhu and Juhi plans for the 3rd time to get married in court and on the same day Madhu promises his wife and job less rich friend Ranjit (Rajatava) of a aternoon lunch at a restaurant. Madhu's plan was to keep his promise with his wife and Ranjit and after the lunch would pretend to leave for a tour to Digha while in actuality he had asked Arunima that they will get married in the evening and start on their 3 days honeymoon to Digha. The problem arises in the form of a lady being robbed of her valuables by street goons in front of a bus-stand where Madhu was waiting to return home to keep his promise. On seeing the lady in distress, Madhu tries to save her but gets flogged on the head and black outs. As he is being shifted to a hospital a confused Madhu enters his Darga Road address in the hospital register. Meanwhile both his wife and Juhi files missing person's diary respectively in Ballygunge PS & Darga Road PS. On regaining consciousness, Madhu allows a cop (Ramaprasad Banik) of Ballygunge PS to accompany him to his Ballygunge residence much to the later's confusion about his real address.
Next starts the hilarious sequences of misadventures, misinterpretations and misunderstandings where the better part of the comedy being shared by Rajatava, Mr. Banik and Paran
Bandhyopadhyay who plays the role of the Darga Road cop investgating the dissapearance of Madhu. The story ends in a happy note.
Though the middle part of the movie is awfully exciting but the start could have been made more livelier and the end less abrupt. But as a whole it is a amusing piece of movie and worth watching!

Jodha-Akbar

The 1st 3 things that came to my mind after the movie is over is

1. Grandeur
2. Perfect blend of probably the richest language in world, Urdu
   
3. Chewing Gum

While the 1st 2 reflects the achievments of producer-director Asutosh Gowarikar, last one shows the film's similarities with the philosophy of the candy after it's been squeezed out of its sugar.
Elaborating on the achievments, one can only tell that the audience will be kept spellbound by rich splendor of the Mughal palaces and places that provides just the right backdrop to the life and times of Akbar as depicted in the movie. The Agra Fort including its majestic gates, Deewan-E-Aum, Deewan-E-Khash, the Queen's Room, the Royal Kitchen, everything has been detailed as accurately as possible.
Added to this is the use of the exotic Urdu language whose richness fits ideally with the environment of the movie. Infact, the various emotions expressed throughout the film could not have been better conveyed.
The attires of the Mughal and Rajput nobility also deserves special mention as the dresses in no case ever appeared to be too classy but just the thing appropriate in each occassion.
But one of the main disappointments of the movie also lies in the dresses. It will be seen that the Mughal armours, shields, vests of war have been featured in a realistic way but the war dress of the Rajputs in some occassions seems to depict that they were way behind the Mughals in designing protective vests during that time. Also maximum of the Ranas that have been shown in the movie are featured quite aged, which I think may be a debatable issue.
The 2nd dissapointment was the songs that somehow did not fit with the film. It was not that the compositions were bad, no they are superbly played, but the theme somehow could not mingle harmoniously with the rest of the film. In one particular occassion the fusion type that was used was quite unrealistic. Also the choreography in one of the songs following Akbar's declaration of cancellation of a religious tax lost the realistic touch. The dance featured locals celebrating the abolition of the tax by a song & dance programme in front of the Emperor, but the too synchronized steps and the selective dresses of the dancers somehow made me feel that I am watching a film set on a more modern age.
The 3rd disappointment is Bairam Khan and the first 15min of the film where the acting seems a bit outdated and seems like some old theatrical performance than a modern acting.
Finally the 1st two hours had been so much entertaining that the viewers may feel a bit bored when the film ends after 3hr15min.

Right#

Afterword
**********The story 1st made its appearance in a e-weekly, Vinno Rabibasar (6th chapter). Subsequently it was published in the 3rd part of the evergreen Hysteresis. The concept of the story is pretty old, but as we all know "old is gold" & the value of gold is always on the increasing side, don't think this will be a non-interesting read!!

Barcaon

Disclaimer: This came in2 xistence when we, the x-students of our college suddenly thot upon publishing a magazine that was 2 b the 2nd part of the stunner 'Hysteresis', published way back during our final years at the Alma Mater. During this post graduation period (meaning the period after graduation not the Master degree course!!) our always enthusiastic class mates had gathered enuf xperiences 2 share with us. The article is thus truly based upon my xperiences after I left the college for the nu life, only with slight modifications at some places that was necessary 2 make it a better reading material, hope u njoyed it...

Riddled by Roses

this was taken by yours truly using a normal 50mm slr lens!! the ques is how?? ans that & u'll save a lot of money!

The Gift

A short intro to my first english publication...
During my training days (2002-03) at Bombay I had been chosen as one of the Journal Committee members though during the entire tenure, my active participation before bringing out the annual magazine included attending only a single meeting! So when the time came for collecting the contributions the journal chief casually reminded me that it looks nice when every member contributes some literature for the magazine. I immediately took the hint and asked a week's time but was made to understand that only a single day remained before the materials will be sent to the press. So if I wanted to put something with my name on the magazine I might use the day more productively. Without further procrastination, for the whole day I raked my brain and created enough low pressure in my cerebral cortex so as to invite the brainstorm sometime during the night! Here I present the effect of the storm and please feel free to criticise on the result.

THE GIFT

-Anirban De

At the morning………

Can you believe it! How can you? I myself could never have imagined it till now. Rimi, the heartthrob of the class, the queen of all our hearts has asked me to accompany her for her special marketing. Yes! She had specifically mentioned over the phone that it is for a ‘special’ reason.

You might well be wondering what this ‘special’ marketing means. Well, I have an answer to that too though it thrills me to the bone when I think about it. You see, today is the 13th of Feb and tomorrow is the Valentine’s Day. So, maybe… …no no, not maybe, I’m sure that she is going to gift me something of my choice. Oh my! Just think oh it. Me, the CR of the class, already held high in esteem by the other boys, will again be a step ahead of them. I knew it was bound to happen. Who else could have been the chosen one?

The rumours of the past few days about Rimi’s feeling towards Raja now seem to be an utter nonsense. I can now understand why Rimi was seen near Raja for the past couple of weeks. Everybody knows that Raja is the only guy whom I can tolerate a little more than the others. The rest of the bunch is all little short of idiots. I can’t stand them. But Raja seems to possess a little intelligence though it’s not a match to my brilliance. I’m sure, Rimi wished to be better acquainted to me and so wanted to get an introduction through Raja. Actually, she joined our class only a month ago and doesn’t know me at all.

As to my feelings, I too had a little weakness towards her from the very first day when she stepped inside our class. But, as you see, it would have never looked good if I were to approach her. The boys would be making fun over my back then. Instead, thanks to my Providence, things are shaping out rightly for me now.

After a few hours……….

Oh! I’m a little late. No problem, she will certainly wait. But where the hell is she? Oh look, she is doing window-shopping there near the cosmetics shop. I better hurry up or else she might get cross.
-“Hi Rimi, sorry for being so late.”
-“Oh, it’s okay! Actually I thought you might forget. I’m sorry to waste your precious time.”
-“It’s not a problem. Don’t feel embarrassed.”
-“So kind of you.”
-“So, what’s the ‘special’ marketing all about?”
She is turning red in the face while answering, “Actually, you see, I wanted you to choose a tie for my friend.”
See what I’ve been telling you! She will ask me to choose as if I’m choosing for somebody else and then she will surprise me with the same tomorrow. But I pretend not to understand and ask, “Well, is it for someone special?” Again she is going red as she tries to explain.
But I stop her, “Hey, don’t feel so embarrassed, I was just joking. Let’s go to the Raymond’s.”

Again after an hour at the ice-cream parlour………

-“I hope your friend will be happy with my choice”, I’m pretending to be still in the dark.
-“I’m sure he will”, she winked.
Oh just imagine! Tomorrow, in front of the whole class, she will be handing the gift to me. That will be a matter of envy to the others. Yes, they deserve it, those fools!
-“Excuse me”, her remark caused me to return to the present from my dreams.
-“Yeah…”
I can see she is again becoming pink in the face as she asks, “Well, I’m feeling very nervous but I have to tell you something.”
My God, I didn’t expect this much but it now seems that she is going to propose me.
-“What”, suddenly I’m feeling very excited.
-“Well you see, I’ve already wasted much of your time and …”
-“That’s not a problem”, I try to be humble.
-“… and Raja speaks highly of you.”
That guy is a real gem. He had made all the groundwork so that I am not facing any problem. He deserves a treat after all this. Her last remark had made my pulse rate high though I try to appear as calm as possible.
-“He says you are always nice to him”, she continues, “that’s why I know only you are the right person for this.”
I never knew being a little good to others could fetch you such a gift. I’m now trembling with joy as I say, “Don’t embarrass me.”
-“Will you do me a favour?”, she pleads.
-“Certainly”, I’m ready for it.
-“Will you please take this gift…”
See, I knew it! It seems that I’m on the top of the world.
But she continues, “… and give it to Raja tomorrow and say to him that I love him. I know only you can manage it.”
Oh! My head reels. Suddenly the parlour seems to disappear. It seems that from the top of the world I’m being hurled down, far down, with my pride to the dust. Never before I was ready for this kind of gift!