My Best Read in Recent TImes

...has been "Animal's People" BY Indra Sinha. Touching, irreverently funny and bawdy, bold and unapologetic, hardhitting and a myriad of other adjectives that come to mind when I look back at the experience of reading about Animal(Janwar) and his twisted world. One of the most endearing characters I have encountered in a long time- most certainky one of the Top Ten characters I have come across in my lifetime(a list which is still headed by The Little Prince).Hard to believe that it didnt win the Man Booker in 2007 inspite of a nomination- and since I have not read the eventual winner, lets say no more on that)
Please do read and let me know what you thought of the book

(Here is the author speaking about the inspiration behind the book)
(Here is a review of the book)
(An interview with the author that I could unearth from the cyberspace)


Posted by : Sid

Feluda revisited

Feluda has always fascinated the Bengali. Which is surprising because, Feluda had many attributes which are as further removed from the Bengali habits as possible. Bengalis have a general tendency of going over board in anything, which is defended as the Great Bengali Emotion ("Aabeg"). But often, it takes away the "beg", that is speed in Bengali, in a greater sense of the word. The aabeg, perhaps takes away the focus in many a cases, trifle and trivia encompasses us. That way, Feluda was a great exception. He also had, what Sidhu Jetha said, doors and windows of his mind open, another trait which we once possessed, but sadly lost over the years. He also lacked the usual Bengali traits of sudden passion, the fiery response to the smallest provocation, and these helped him to track down smartest of the criminals like Maganlal Meghraj.

Perhaps, he represented all that a Bengali always wanted to be. Tall, lean and handsome, he was the embodiment of sharpness. He had deep knowledge in certain fields and working knowledge in almost all fields of general knowledge. (which is a sharp contrast from Holmes, who believed in specialization of knowledge, having deep understanding of chemistry, a branch of science, while blissfully unaware of the old scientific fact that the earth goes round the sun. Although this seems a little far fetched today.).

Another feature of Feluda is that he is not an armchair detective. Unlike, say Byomkesh Bokshi, the memorable sleuth of Sharadindu Bandyppadhyay, his stories are adventurous and often involve physical fight( Some of Byomkesh’s stories also have physical encounters, Shajarur Kata, for example, but they were exceptions and not the rule). The fact that Feluda is physically very fit helps him in his clashes with the goon. In “Bombaier Bombete”, he matches the Karate instructor cum stunt master in the mat, surprising him. He does yoga every morning. He believes a healthy mind resides in a healthy body. In Sonar Kella, he tells Mandarbabu, “Amar abar ektu shokal shokal otahar bodobhesh ache” ( I have the dubious distinction of being an early riser) . To this Mandarbabu ( the villain in the film ) says” Tai apnake eto fit dekhache”(That is why you look so fit.). Fitness is one aspect which most Bengalis ( and Indians in general) aspire, lack and admires and Feluda’s fitness makes us admire him more. Here is one final example of brain with brawn.

But apart from these two, the Bengali also aspires for another quality, the culture. Feluda embodies the Bengali love of culture, and the disdain with which hypocrisy and greed is treated. All these and everything a Bengali stands for creates the milieu which constitutes the environment where the Bengali Bhadrolok thrives. The Feluda stories mostly take place in the period of mid ‘60s to late ‘80s . and are replete with the such Bhadrolok Bengalis. Each story is a glimpse of contemporary Bengali life with light discourse in matters of varied interest. Satyajit Ray was a great reader of scientific publications, and read the Span every month. He was also a great fan of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury (of Fahrenheit 451 fame) and his inquisitive mind often gives us a glimpse of itself through the different elements that keep surfacing through the stories. This culture and its practice made the Feluda stories intellectually stimulant and saved the Bengali from the disgraceful act of perusing a crime thriller with no food for thought.

But above all, Feluda represents the Bengali spirit. Many say he is the alter ego of Ray, which may not be entirely wrong. Ray was the last Bengali Renaissance man and his spirit can be fest many facets of Feluda’s character, his quest for the truth, his all encompassing knowledge, his willingness to learn above all his great humanity. Though Ray is with us no more, his mindchild Feluda marches right on through generations of wide eyed Bengali children. Long live Feluda.

Posted by : Ranjan

Feluda! Naos!

Today I would like to talk about the most important topic of my life “The Inimitable Feluda”. My tryst with him started long back, when once on my winter vacation to Kolkata, being left with no company as all my cousins were too busy with their exams, one of my good aunties had the finer sense of handing me a copy of Gangtoker Gondagol, fresh and vibrating, to the eyes of a 10 year old kid. It was a moment which can only be compared with the enlightening moment of Gautam Buddha. Frankly I don’t see any other explanation to it. Since then it has been an exhilarating journey. Feluda novels are not just like any other ordinary thriller or detective novels, but an atmosphere in itself where you experience a world full of finer tastes and mental exercises. They represent a vortex full of intelligent dwellings and knowledgeable pursuits. Each of the stories has a new and fresh flavour to it.

Feluda’s stories have been written mostly during the 70s and 80s when Kolkata was very different. People were more culturally inclined, to be fair to the current generation; they had more time to it. But because of that scenario, all the characters in the stories are mostly quintessential bengalies with great respect for different art forms and cognitive studies, which made the stories all the more enlightening to read. The stories show that beyond mundane everyday pursuits, there are higher things to learn, to achieve, to realize, once you free the doors and windows of your mind. I won’t be doing a justice if I also don’t mention the entertainment value of these stories. They have been created in such a way that people of any generation can thoroughly enjoy it even if they don’t want to be too analytical. Feluda stories have also been translated into several languages including English. So if anybody who does not speak Bengali, can also get hold of them in their respective languages. Mr. Ray, if not for his unforgettable films, would always be remembered for painstakingly taking the task of creating lights in the life of some nondescript two-legged creatures (one of them being too busy now for jotting this down) by bringing Feluda to our lives. Hail! Mr. Ray!

SAURAV RANJAN DATTA

Surface-tension in a forgotten land

Siddhartha Deb, the acclaimed author of the novel “Surface” , not only shares his name with me but also his place of origin. We both hail from one of the most remote regions of the country- North-East. In his book Surface, Siddhartha Deb not only weaves a tale of socio-political intrigue and psychological thriller but he brings to life a region that , in spite of 60 years of being a part of the republic , still remains distant from it as South Pole remains from downtown Silchar.

The protagonist Amrit Singh is a mercenary journalist stuck in a dead-end job with a once-glorious Calcutta newspaper The Sentinel ( unmistakably a take on The Statesman). He is asked to cover the North-East region, an otherwise neglected and unimportant area which nevertheless needs to be represented on the rag-sheet for whatever its worth. Amrit, however uses the opportunity to shake free of his shackles and go all out in pursuing his dreams of investigative journalism and embarks on a story that he feels is typical of all that is wrong with this God-forsaken part of the country. Soon, he finds himself in a quagmire of political conspiracy, the social conditions , the acts of destruction and overall chaos that is a part of life in the Region.
Although the book is essentially a story of thrill and adventure , yet the author does a more than credible job of representing the Seven Sisters in an honest and realistic manner. The plot is often interwoven with facts ; historical events and places serve as platforms for the story to develop. A lot of historical background is provided and the present conditions follow as natural evolution from thereon. Most importantly, as a person who hails from the Region, I can vouch for the authenticity of the authors depiction of the people living in the Region, their customs and way of life, their issues and problems, their fears and complaints. Deb successfully presents the political turmoil and the widespread insurgency in the Region , explain lucidly the various reasons for the same , and manages to present the case of both the parties ( Insurgents at large and the Government) with no partiality to either.
The story , though fictional , is extremely realistic and touches a chord because even the fictional characters and events emerge out of reality. The elusive Mr Malik, a mysterious humanitarian activist , is loosely based on Sanjay Choudhury, the Bengali activist from Bengal who had won many accolades for his projects in Majuli(a river-island in Assam and one of the most impoverished and underdeveloped part even by the North-East standards) and who was kidnapped and killed by the Ulfa rebels .
Very little has been written or filmed on the problems that plague one of most beautiful parts of the country that is North-East.. Since Independence , the region never had a moment of peace and stability. Currently there are more than 200 rebel groups fighting the Indian Government and /.or each other. And the people, the people with the kind of honesty and innocence that can be retained only within the hills and ravines of Paradise, are caught in the crossfire. Most of the original rebel groups dating from the time of Independence owe their genesis to an indifferent central administration and the complete lack of understanding of local culture and ethnic sensibilities of the region on part of the government.

Andto top that off, power supplies , civic amenities and infrastructure are so rare in the region that people like us who manage to venture out of the squalor have to deal with a culture shock of 24 hr power and water supply! Every year floods drown a huge chunk of a land & most parts become inaccessible from the mainland- supply of food and other necessary items cease except for the rations dropped by the Army Choppers. And if you think its limited to only the more remote areas, think again- this situation is quite rampant even in places close to Guwahati, a relatively more developed city.

Amidst such state of gross neglect and apathy, a literary attempt as that of Siddhartha Deb come as a welcome change. As a pure work of fiction and a thriller its outstanding with a compelling page-turner quality about it. Dont go buy my oengthy discourse on the socio-politacl issues in my previous paragraph- the book only captures these in passing and as a backdrop, it doesnt indulge in lecturing about these affairs.

As a canvas for the portrait of the forgotten beautiful Seven Sisters and life in these hills, its simply a work of genius. Surface often resembles a reportage, shedding light on some remote untraversed regions. However it retains all the qualities of a truly engrossing novel that fills an important gap- a source of illumination in the pockets of darkness in North-east India.

(Other works by the same author here )

Posted by: Sid