Baksho Rahasya

The 2^nd Feluda novel featuring Lalmohanbabu and here too the description doesn’t match the chubby faced character portrayed by Santosh Dutta in Ray’s films.

This story takes Feluda and his satellites to the snowy hills of Simla where the climax takes place. It started with a Dinnath Lahiri of Calcutta getting his bag swapped with a similar looking bag of a co-passenger while returning from Delhi. He wanted to employ a trustworthy person to return the bag and so he chose Pradosh Chandra Mitra (Feluda) for the job. Actually the problem was that he didn’t know who its actual owner was as his coup was shared by three others. Apparently there was nothing interesting in the case but the detective in Feluda thought otherwise and he willingly accepted it. He learnt that the original bag contained a manuscript written by a renowned traveler of yester year, Shambhucharan Bose and was naturally interested in it. But at that time little did he knew as to the actual content of the bag for which there were repeated attempts on his life and the three musketeers started receiving threatening calls and letters that didn’t stop till Simla where the final showdown took place.

Though this had not been my favourite Feluda story but this time as I read it, I could find a different flavour in it. This was due to the fact that I remembered the criminal’s identity and so could pick out the critical facts that had hitherto passed unnoticed due to the story’s rapid pace. The minutest of details and impeccable reasoning didn’t leave a question unanswered as we finish the book without compromising on the entertainment factor.