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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3 Idiots

I haven't yet read Chetan Bhagat's "5 Point Someone", on which the film is supposed to be based, so till that time, I give my wholehearted congratulations to the person be it the director Mr. Rajkumar Hirani or Mr. Bhagat or the screenplay writer Mr. Abhijat Joshi, who came first with this creative idea that have all the materials to infuse freshness in the minds of the young undergrads of the country whose dreams and hopes of an educated future is more than often lost in the slimy muck of a system that progressively destroys the passion of learning and instils a socio-economic fear of coming last in the unhealthy ratrace.
It is very much obvious that today, the average student either studies for an upgraded social status, a job in the US, to fulfil the hopes of attaining the much revered degree that their guardians seek, and does not give a damn to the sheer joy of learning. Infact, from early years following a child’s birth, the parents determine the path that he or she will take and forces the doomed ward, in almost all the time, to take it. Infact, our system of values are so much diluted that a passionate photographer’s career is often looked askance compared to that of a mediocre engineer. The same goes with the standard of education system that is based on certain rules and regulations that do not support unorthodox and simple approaches to a better learning.
With this introduction I’ll now delve into the rollercoaster movie ride which is based on three roommates Farhan Qureshi, Raju Rastogi and Ranchhoddas “Rancho” Shyamaldas Chanchad of Delhi's prestigious Imperial College of Engineering. Of them, while Farhan yearned for being a professional wild life photographer and Raju wanted to uplift his poverty stricken family, the witty Rancho, in contrast, apparently with a wealthy background, had a passion for machines and really wished for nothing more than learning the intricacies of technology. Rancho, while on the one hand, often pointed out the follies in today’s education system also was outspoken about the tortured mental conditions of the undergrads subjected to tremendous pressure during their four years. He, infact, demonstrated his views in one of the hilarious moments of the movie which proved that in these developing years the most avid of learners are transformed into nothing but a mechanical system bound to follow orders to carry out the same mechanical set of rules instead of doing any logical thinking and analysis. Rancho’s common sense and simple ideas often did wonders and he used to find the simplest and most effective solutions to the most complicated of problems. This easily incurred the wrath of the ICE Director, Viru Sahasrabuddhi (aka Virus to the students) who could not stand a smarter soul than himself and was an obsessed educationalist, firmly believing in the prevailing system of graduation. Social ties meant little to him and to him a child was synonymous to an engineer if he was a boy or a doctor if she was a girl. Unable to bear the attitude of Rancho, he tried to utilize every opportunity to throw the trio out of college or to orchestrate a break up in their friendship. To the latter he was partly successful when Raju, in fear of failing, relocated himself with Chatur “Silencer” Ramalingam only to be reunited soon following Rancho’s quick thinking and valiant act of saving his nearly dying father. Thus the bonding of the three friends grew more and more strong and frequently they played pranks on the local neighbourhood. In one of these comical incidents, the trio broke into a marriage party just to enjoy the good food but ultimately were shocked to find that the party was thrown by non other than Virus on the occasion of his elder daughter’s marriage. Thus Virus was again furious and the three again made a hasty retreat but not before Rancho striking off a break up between Virus’ younger daughter Pia and her fiancée Suhas whom, he proved, in that short interval, to be nothing more than a materialistic individual who is accepting Pia just for her father and their family’s prominence. Pia too was irritated at the trio’s insolence but slowly as she grew more and more acquainted with these three and Rancho in particular, she began to get attracted to the simplicity and frankness of Rancho and started understanding the problem that his education-obsessed father possessed. She saw that Rancho, being a prankster and all that, still came first in the exams though Raju and Farhan consistently held the last two positions. Though this puzzled many but Rancho himself explained the cause behind it. He stated that his passion of learning technology drove him amidst all other diversions to success and Farhan's passion of photography and Raju's tension of financial insecurity and his fear of failing held them at bay. He insisted that Farhan quit his engineering studies to make a go for his dream that is bound to bring him success and he tried to infuse confidence in the demoralised Raju so that his attitude changes in order that he may face the campus interview boards boldly. For this he also drove away one of his weaknesses and thus brought an interesting twist to the narrative.

But surprises were still in store when we find Rancho, curiously disappearing after the final day of graduation and when after years, a link to his wherabouts surfaced, Farhan and Raju were temporarily devastated to find that a completely new person bore the name and certificates of their loving friend Rancho. Thus the audience will be kept at a suspense till the extraordinary finish that I can guarantee will be more than satisfying and some will surely want to watch it twice.

The movie and every bit of it are enjoyable to the fullest extent and guarantees peals of laughter from the audience in this roller coaster fun ride that is made even enjoyable by the crispy acting of Amir Khan (Rancho?) complemented by the talents of Madhavan (Farhan) and Sharman Joshi (Raju). Hats off to them and the rest who had shredded some kilos so as to appear years younger thus adding the more realistic touch to the film. Boman Irani (Virus) again provides a classic comic performance and Kareena Kapoor (Pia) has never been better used combined with her perfect make-up. In the side roles, the newcomer Omi Vaidya (Silencer), the endearing acting of Rahul Kumar (Millimeter) and the comic touch by Javed Jaffrey (Ranchoddas) will keep you glued to the screen. If this is not enough, there is a whole bunch of numbers voiced by Shan, Shreya Ghoshal, Santanu Moitra and even Sharman Joshi had lent his voice in one of them that are equally good and go well with the mood of the movie. Santanu Moitra’s composition and Swanand Kirkire’s lyrics do justice to the film as do the able direction of Mr. Hirani and the smart screenplay of Abhijat Joshi.

But like all good things, these are also not devoid of faults and the most important of that seems to be the fact that when Rancho disappeared after graduating, his bosom buddies and his love failed to find him. Well, since the ICE director knew Ranchod’s father’s monthly income, he must have known his address too and also in these days of rapidly growing information technology, it should not take too much pain at least to locate a person. Secondly, the talented Rancho was seen in the final scenes to have taught his students to apply electrical shocks to people who pissed at the wrong places. Though it is a misbehaviour on the part of the latter but is it not that the intellectually sharp Rancho know this can lead to death? Finally, the way Pia took off from her wedding to be reunited with Rancho bears the trademark of Bollywood’s supersimplification and thus mars the finish a little bit without which the ending would have been just correct!

The Case of the Fenced-In Woman

It was during one of my ramblings in the Starmark section of the South City Mall that I came across the titles of Perry Mason by Earl Stanley Gardner. Though the name of the creator and his creation was not new to me but never had I have the chance of going thru any of the novels previously. So a rapid cyber search got me introduced to the character but much of it remained unsaid till I bought this book and finished it in a hurry. Actually I bought this from a second-hand store as I'm quite doubtful about my experimentation with the 1st sample of any new series. So though I longed for the 'Velvet Claws' which I gather is the 1st Perry Mason story but I'd to be content with this among the limited inventory of the store's display. That this was a posthumous publication was only known to me after another of my cyber searches and so my ideas may not conform to that of the readers of Mason novels as I hold the belief that so late a novel might not reflect the true character of the dynamic lawyer as a saturation is bound to come at that period.

The story starts in Perry Mason's office where the US defence lawyer, famous for his investigations in murder mysteries, is presented with a rather unusual case by a Morley Eden. It was learnt that Mr. Eden had purchased a plot from some Lorring Carson and had employed the latter in constructing a building in the same plot. But no sooner than he started living, the ex-wife of Carson, Vivian was found to occupy a certain part of the house and seperated herself by a barbed wire fence running through the house so as to divide the same and the rest of the plot in two parts. This not only intrigued Eden but also annoyed him. It was then revealed that the portion where Vivian is now living was actually hers legally and Lorring Carson seemed to make a fraud sale to Eden. A frustrated Eden requested Mason's intervention and Mason, following his own line of enquiry thought it better to charge Lorring in a fraud case. But on the same day as the case was to be filed, Lorring Carson's stabbed body was found in the Eden side of the house and thus the case turned bizarre than ever. The problem seemed to multiply with the police accusing both Morley and Vivian in the murder and Perry found himself at sea when both his clients refused to divulge any information that may show him some light. If that was not all, Mason himself found to be trapped with indications of framing him during the course of events. Thus on the day of the hearing both his clients and Mason was tensed and the prosecuter seemed to have a solid case with piled up circumstantial evidences to hammer in the verdict against Morley-Vivian. Thus the stage is set for Perry not only to save the clients but also to unearth the mystery and guarantee a satisfactory ending.
The problem with this story is that the ending seemed a bit abrupt and less dramatic than what I had hoped. Also the final deductions seemed to be somewhat forced and a bit less convincing. Also Mason's urge to save his clients even when they might be at fault did not personally please me. Also Della Street and Paul Drake, the two persons without whom Pason novels lose completeness, didn't seem to be involved much in the story and so can't gather much about their character.

Colonel Samagra Vol I

Colonel Niladri Sarkar, the truth seeker as invented by Syed Mustafa Siraj held my fascination at a very young age. Maybe his Santa Claus appearance was the most lovably appealing feature that was so unnatarual for an investigator to me who used to associate a grim and serious looking soul with that profession. Though through times that outlook on the appearance of detectives changed as I grew more familiar with Holmes, Feluda, Byomkesh, Father Brown, Poirot, Marple, Tommy & Tuppence and Arjun but still this wonderful personality had always found a ready fan in me. Actually the fusion of a retired army officer with the characteristics of a genial grandfather held its charm to me and in the same way as people craves for the warmth of their grandparents, I also have a fondness for Colonel Niladri Sarkar.

So in the bookfair of 97 when I came across the consolidated volumes published by De's I couldn't resist the temptation of buying the 1^st one. But two disappointments awaited me, the 1^st one being that the stories did not seem to be chronologically ordered. But the more serious one was that it seemed the Colonel of my dream whose adventures in crime was supposed to be read with awe by readers of all ages seemed to have special cases reserved for the adult readers that immediately worsened my feelings. Actually I had always found the inclusion of adult content makes the crimes and motives somewhat unidirectional and the mystery portion is somewhat slightened.

The book starts with a novel titled 'Paragacha' or the weed, where the retired Colonel and his friend-cum-story narrator Jayanta, the journalist of Dainik Satyasevak, involves themselves in the murder of a call girl, Chandrika who again relates herself with a parallel case presented to Col. Sarkar by his acquintance Mr. Amarendra Singha Roy, of the scenic village of Rangatuli. The story starts with the Colonel and Jayanta attending a drama by Sourav on the express wish of the owner-cum-actor Indrajit Bannerjee. Chandrika was a member of the drama company and on their way home a visibly distressed Chandrika requested lift in their car. Though there was no serious conversation in the way but later Jayanta discovered that she had left her handbag in the car. On the next morning, Chandrika's murder was revealed and the Colonel sets off on the mission to unravel the secrets that points to the murderer and also the motive. Though the story had quite a number of twists but there are also several coincidences that makes the investigator's job quite easy. Interesitingly, the private eye and the ever bumbling acquintance of Colonel, whom the author has used as a refreshing relief, Haldarmoshai appears only in this story in the whole collection and I admit that this sincere and honest soul has been my favourite from the start. The second story is quite good but the name 'Phand' (Bengali for trap) gives away much of the excitement very early during the narration. 'Zero Zero Zero' involves attempt of sabotage that is cleverly foiled by the veteran Colonel. 'Sonar Damaru' seems to be a classic case where Colonel's loses his voice temporarily due to severe cold and cannot prevent dual murders before catching the criminal and a gang of smugglers. I think 'Prem, Hatya ebong Colonel' is probably the best and the shortest of the lot in the collection where also for a change, a third person narration is used and the entire plot with its solution evolves magnificently and quite unlike the other stories. Infact the third person narration seems to be deliberate, else the story would have lost much of its novelty. The naming of the story 'Khokan Gaache Maach Dhorte', has been taken from a Bengali nursery rhyme and is kind of synonymous with the way a mishap happens during a fishing hike which the Colonel again solves with the help of his intuitions. But again super simplification seems to mar the thrill in this story as much of the mystery behind the dissapearance of a mystic monk seems to be childishly explained. But in 'Janalar Neeche Ekta Lok', the brilliance of story telling masked the perpetrator(s) of crime masterfully and though it had appeared quite boring when I read it initially but its appeal seem to have increased with time. Actually what I think is as I knew the story beforehand, this time I could appreciate the literary content and how poetically it had been handled throughout, quite unlike a traditional detective story. Also in 'Dui Nari', though the narration is in 1^st person but this time it is not Jayanta but a married writer Gautam Chowdhury who involves himself in a case of theft while on a secret holiday with one of his lady fans. A deadbody worsens the situation more but when the criminal is unmasked, the tortuous way of organizing the crime seems to be too far fetched. In 'Hangor', the mysterious happenings in a hotel named 'The Shark' at Chandanpore-on-sea on a rainy night followed by a deadbody in the premises of a political activist in the morning required Colonel's interference to solve the murder. The monsoon season adds the additional adventurous back drop to this story but here again the theme seems to be highly unrealistic. The plot in 'Kalo Pathar' is quite a good one but the use of supernaturals remained unexplained and of the two seances though one seemed to be staged but the reality regarding the other one remained a mystery till the very end. A bizarre series of murders in 'Trishule Rakter Daag' makes it highly interesting but how the Colonel gathered some clues are upto the readers to unravel. The final in the collection, 'Toy Pistol’ again would have been a highly interesting plot but it started in a very abrupt manner and seemed to conclude hurriedly without giving necessary time for the complexity of the plot to evolve significantly. Altogether the compilation is well balanced and if you love the character you, at least, won’t hate the book.

An interesting observation regarding Colonel adventures that highly contrasts with traditional detective fictions is that the retired Colonel doesn’t seem to be in the bad books of the police or the professionals and in fact a nice understanding seems to develop between the veteran crime solver and the local security in almost all cases. Infact there are instances where the local police and the Colonel both seek help of each other and the local security personnel in several cases seems actually happy to get the help of Colonel to unravel the bizarre happenings. This may be an automatic choice for the author owing to Colonel’s background but in any case, I personally liked the general trend of non-cooperation between professionals and amateurs in the trade being eradicated in the cases.

Shesh Anka

It was a time when I was of that age that movie watching was a privilege to me and so it surprised me when my parents insisted that I watch this one telecasted in Doordarshan (DD1 I think). My mother had a love of mystery movies and my father also shared the same sentiment. So while watching this movie for the 1^st time I was prepared to watch something of a suspense sort following the clear cut format of a case presented to a detective and the way he solves it through clues collected from odd places. That the same can be done in a completely different way with the viewers baffled as not only to the identity of the criminal but also to that of the investigator shows the ingenuity of both the story writer Raj Kumar Maitra and the director Haridas Bhattacharya. So when my mother presented this movie to my father as a birthday gift we were also equally thrilled to shelf this permanently in our house.

The story starts with the marriage arrangements between the wealthy Sudhangshu Gupta, a handsome but widowed young man and Soma Roy, the only daughter to Sir Haraprasad Roy, an honoured citizen of Calcutta. Parallel to that it is also shown that the butlers in Sudhangshu’s and Haraprasad’s house with an apparently fishy dealings with a Mr. Samaddar and Ms. Lata Bose. Samaddar seemed to possess more than one identity and appears to be the leader of the team who continuously instructs the three and also steals some documents from Sudhangshu’s house. Also in their conversation Burma and Imphal is mentioned very frequently and it is cited that both Sudhangshu and Haraprasad’s family had once been either the residents or had visited at least one of the two places. As the preparation of the marriage proceeds Lata is seen to appear in the guise of a distressed Kalpana Gupta and gets herself admitted to a cheap hotel very near the resident of an expert veteran criminal lawyer Suren Bannerjee. On the day of the marriage, Lata receives an anonymous letter, already a pre-planned move of Samaddar and reading it, rushes to Suren Bannerjee’s chamber where Samaddar was again present in the guise of Bannerjee’s client. The next scene takes us to the place of the marriage and as the rituals are about to be started Bannerjee enters and orders it to be stopped claiming that Sudhangshu’s 1^st wife is not dead and brings forward Lata adorned with Kalpana’s ornaments and asks Haraprasad to look into the matter. Samaddar too manages to involve himself in the confusion and insists the marriage to be stopped immediately. A rapid informal query ensues and the ACP, a close associate to Haraprasad is called. He soon finds that some ornaments from Sudhangshu’s house is missing but the post mortem report, death certificate and inquest report of Kalpana’s death is still present. But the Kalpana’s photographs and diaries have been replaced with Lata’s photographs and diaries whose handwriting does not match those of Kalpana. A terrible confusion ensues and a case is presented in the court against Lata’s claim and also charges of theft and illegal entry is brought against her. Samaddar finances Bannerjee to take up Lata’s case while Haraprasad employs another expert, Mitra against her. Curiously as the case proceeds, it becomes increasingly difficult to disprove Lata’s identity while shadows of doubt seems to form between Soma and Sudhangshu. As a final measure the distressed and apparently crestfallen Sudhangshu suggests, Kalpana’s brother, Debesh be called in. But before Mitra could ask for the permission of seeking Deben, Bannerjee surprises them by asking the judge to give them a week to call Deben as a witness on the defendant's side. In this situation the audience awaits in true suspense what happens when Deben comes but I assure you something dramatic await them as the movie closes. This outstanding movie seems to be based on the English film, “Chase a Crooked Shadow” but be it a adaptation the excellent acting gives the viewers more than a two hours entertainment.

Bikash Roy (Samaddar), Uttam Kumar (Sudhangshu) both are excellent and so are Kamal Mitra (Suren Bannerjee), Sabitri chattopadhyay (Lata) and Tarun Kumar (Deben) in their shorter roles. Pahari Sanyal (Haraprasad), Sharmila Tagore (Soma) and Utpal Dutta (Mr. Mitra) are also equally well in their characterization.

A Town Called Malgudi

This was my second purchase along with ‘The Last Don’, made on a discount coupon that I’d received from the last book fair and though this was a hurried choice but there is not the remotest chance of repentance on the outcome.
When I’d first read R.K. Narayan, I was fascinated by his style and after reading the first novel in this book, The Man-Eater of Malgudi, i just fell in love with his works. He seemed to be in elements while writing his 9th novel in 1961, 26 years after he entertained his readers with the wonderful ‘Swami and Friends’ His wry sense of humour blended magnificently with the day to day events that he narrated in his own style to weave the plot that at one hand consisted of mystery and on the other hand the constraints in life that an apparently meek and contented man faces that he justifies in his own way. The story starts with the printer Nataraj, a good human being, persuaded by a compelling taxidermist, Vasu, to let his attic for his personal use wihtout caring to pay any rent for that. This doesn’t worry Nataraj but the increasing number of stuffed animals in the attic annoys him and his printing assistant Sastri but both fears the bullying Vasu to order to vacate his residence. Vasu, described as a good marksman and an obsessed taxidermist, often visited the nearby Mempi forest and without a licence, used to shoot animals without paying heed to the forest department and brought back the dead animals for his trade. His obsession ultimately drove him to target Kumar, a temple elephant, which seemed to strike protest from certain people and ultimately on the day following the one he was to shoot the animal, Vasu was found dead in his room. Mystery shrouded as to the cause of the death and a singular and symbolic solution was offered by the author though no clear evidence was ever brought forward.
The second is a novella Talkative Man where we are introduced to Madhu, the talkative man of Malgudi whose incessant talk earned him the name. He, being a freelance journalist, seemed to roam everywhere around Malgudi and each day saw him despatching his reports in the mail van. Thus it was obvious that a new entry in the town of Malgudi would not pass unnoticed by him. In this way he met Dr. Rann, that was what he called himself, in his three piece suit who proclaimed himself to be coming from Timbuctoo and would like to stay at Malgudi to continue his work on ‘futurology’, an United Nations project. Well, everybody seem to buy this, even TM (affectionate abbreviation for Talkative Man in Malgudi) and this resulted in TM writing an article on Dr. Rann which the editors in town seemed to like and published it complete with Rann’s photograph. This resulted in the visit of a lady from Delhi who confided in TM that she was the wife of Rann alias Rangan who was far from being a researcher but a lecherous womanizer. TM took the matter lightly and for the time being shielded Rann from the woman and managed to send the later to Delhi thus helping Rann to evade her. But soon it seemed what the woman had told was true as Rann seemed to form a bondage with the naive granddaughter of the good old librarian of the Lawley Memorial Library and Reading Room. This disturbed TM and he soon set pace to a series of events to save the young woman from disrespect. The story also gathered a brisk pace from this point onwards, so unlike Narayan narratives but as a whole the culmination was again correctly Narayan style. It may be mentioned that Nataraj of the 1st novel also plays a very small role in this narrative that started as a novel but thanks to Narayan who never paid heed to the publisher’s demand of more words and stopped where it needed to be stopped in the signature style!
The book also contains several of author’s short stories where we discover a different Narayan. In Astrologer’s Day the single eventful day of the astrologer revealed not only his secret past but may also represent several of the men in the trade and shows us the extent to which imagination can extend so as to pen such a classic narrative. The next story Lawley Road once again brings the Talkative Man who narrates a humorous series of event following the patriotic zeal of the Municipal Council of eradicating everything that is British in free India. True this story is a must read for every Indians both of whom support or are against of this time to time zeal of the Government without paying any heed to the treasury. In A Night of Cyclone, the Talkative Man narrates an anecdote that though could be horrifying but was draped in humour in his unique style. Selvi is a wonderful tale of a singer turned to star by the scheming Mohan who finally receives a severe jolt from the performer he created. But Nitya disappointed me as it tried to bring back the days of ‘Swami and Friends’ but seemed to lose its goal. But Narayan was again in his elements in The Roman Image in which he again introduces TM and I think I become more and more a fan of the Talkative Man as I meet him each time. Infact as I read the story, I remembered the soap version and how I enjoyed that too. Next is A Horse and Two Goats which is perhaps the best of the collection and here in the course of the events a Tamil rustic man is seen to be conversing in his own language with a British who is turn is speaking in English and both are barely understanding each other in the truest sense. Though the entire narrative is in English, the author’s style has never prevented the reader to understand the comic part which occurs due to the linguistic difference. A Breath of Lucifer seems to be the only short story with a Prologue and this is also an example where a magnificent narrative awaits the reader which is based on a post operative patient and his attendant and I use the word magnificent as the patient was an eye-patient and the narration is from his perspective whose sense of vision is temporarily lost. Narayan is again brilliant in the portraiture of Uncle in the eyes of his adopted nephew and how the latter tries to justify his feelings towards his uncle as his character slowly evolves in front of him. The next is Annamalai where the reader might enjoy again the humour that blends well in the relationship of the master and his servant. The second best of the narrative to me in this collection is Salt and Sawdust where the expert cook and the lover in husband metamorphoses the life of their family in a classic tale of comedy and ambition. The list doesn’t stop here but continues with The Edge, The Mute Companions, Naga and The Seventh House till we reach the final in Under the Banyan Tree which is again a bit abstract to me.
Thus Penguin India presents a fitting tribute to this R.K. Narayan with a nice introduction by S. Krishnan but a slight mistake is present as though the back cover promises the book to contain the short story ‘The Shelter’ but actually the compilation misses it!

Joy Baba Felunath

I may have mentioned earlier that Ray’s works, be it film or literature, always reveal something new irrespective of the number of times these are view or read. This time as I re-read the detective classic called ‘Joy Baba Felunath’ I seem to rediscover the master’s style of penning down descriptions of nature and expressions that people make. The story starts with Lalmohanbabu peeling off a nut skin and the way it is narrated the reader won’t find any difficulty visualizing the whole. This and many more are strewn throughout the entire novel and this is one of those unique qualities of Satyajit’s writing that makes him class apart from several others.

The story is also the first in the series where Feluda meets Maganlal, one of his smartest and cunning opponents. The backdrop here is Benaras where on the occasion of a holiday tour during the Durga Puja, Feluda is introduced to the case of a stolen idol of Lord Ganesh from the house of Ambika Ghoshal, one of the oldest and respected residents of Benaras, which was not only a revered item of the household but also the adornments that gilded the idol could bring thousands, if sold. The interesting factor was five days previous to the discovery of the theft, Maganlal, a one-time classmate to Umanath, son of Ambika Ghoshal, meets his classmate and offers him a handsome amount to purchase the image. But Uma refuses. Thus one of the prime suspects in Feluda’s list was Maganlal. The case is further complicated by two other factors. The first one was the murder of Shashibabu, who used to sculpt the Durga Pratima for the Ghoshal family for years. The second one was the appearance of Machlibaba, a self-proclaimed saint from the Himalayas who assembled a vast crowd of followers in Benaras and on the day Uma and his family visited Machlibaba coincided with the day of the theft. Thus it required Feluda’s wit to find out the robber and the murderer and his nerve to fight off the threat of Maganlal. Those who have only seen the film, they may be surprised when I tell that the story not only differs from a different finish, but the actual perpetrators of the crimes are somewhat different in the written version.

Apart from the classic ending the descriptions of the different Ghats of Benaras, the famous lanes and by lanes of Kashi are also worth appreciating and the reader seem to take a short tour of Benaras with Feluda in this novel.

Nrisingha Rahasya

One of those books which I purchased long back when the Doordarshan was televising its soap version. I was school goer then but believe me, Shirshendu’s work for the young readers hadn’t lost its appeal, but had increased many folds for me at least!

The story in “Nrisingha Rahasya” starts with the disappearance of one Gayeshbabu, an apparently polite individual who possessed a weird sixth sense of reading other people’s minds. Also rumour circulated that he possessed a tail which, though was unconfirmed, but seemed to be his only virtue in the eyes of the local biology Professor Mridangababu. So with the disappearance of Gayeshbabu, he seemed to receive the greatest shock as his pursuit for the missing link in the evolution of the ape man to the human seemed to get a serious jolt. Returning to the case of the disappearance, it seemed to be jumbled up even further when the frivolous Paltu, a young man from the city, made up a false story during police interrogation. Though he was only joking to frighten the apparently fearsome police in charge, Bajranga Bose, but soon a second disappearance in the form of Paltu himself gave a new turn to the mystery. Not only the police, but the local residents were also worried about this series of disappearances and one Sumantababu, in particular, was more than concerned about the happenings. He soon started exercising and looked forward for a possible encounter with the criminals. Thus it remained to be seen whether Gayeshbabu and Paltu were ultimately recovered and the motive behind their disappearances.

Though the story did not lose the typical Shirshenduian comedy but I feel that the author seemed to go astray in certain occasions. The character of Gayeshbabu, has never been fully evolved, the mystery of Ruitan remained a mystery, the extraordinary sixth sense of Gayeshbabu never seemed to be of any use, the basis of the tail’s myth was also unexplained. In the course of the story it is positively mentioned that Mridangababu possessed something that the criminal wanted and also had taken it from him but what actually it happened to be remained unstated.

Bish

While roaming across cyber space in search of e-books, I’d stumbled upon murchona.com and seemed to strike gold at this remarkable site that features variety of books only to be freely downloaded by the eager readers. The next few days saw me glued to the site fervently downloading them one by one without paying heed to what I was downloading. This had continued until very recently when I sat down to go through them one by one. Bish was one of the Suchitra Bhattacharyya mystery stories featuring her sleuth Mitin that I’d picked from the site.

The story starts with a Mrs. Labanya Majumder, a 45 year old who seeks Mitin’s help from a possible slow poisoning that she thinks her husband is employing to get rid of her. But Mitin fails to find a motive for it and thinks that Labanya is just some woman in the verge of a nervous breakdown. To soothe down the woman she advises her to have her blood checked. But alas, Mitin’s theory is shattered when within days Labanya was found dead by the administration of poison. Now she has to find the murderer as well as the motive and a fantastic finish awaits the readers.

Though the plot is good but the story is quite short and I felt a slightly longer version was due for the correct evolution of the plot.