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Glimpses into the mind of a genius Classic Satyajit Ray
The stories are a medley of different themes which range from science fiction, mysterious, inexplicable happenings to stories of encounter with aliens, supernatural beings or ghosts. A pattern can be recognised in the supernatural stories where most of the times some inanimate objects like robots, scarecrow, doll, twig or stones or non-human beings such as plants, birds, ants or dogs behave in an animate or strangely human ways. Yet there is no blood and gore in these situations, so prevalent nowadays even in adolescent and children literature. Even the ghosts are of a benevolent, kind and have a humane side to their personality. Where the short stories are based on social situations, the values of kindness, gentleness and sympathy are highlighted. The longest story in the book, titled Fotikchand, tells about a young boy who finds solace in a poor juggler, the story Pikoo's Diary is an experiment in conveying the narrative of a family conflict by writing in child-like, grammatically incorrect half-sentences. The language is easy and the translation does not seem contrived.
Readers might be familiar with many of the stories which have been turned into television serials. The flavour of the stories is well known to Indian readers who grow up on a staple of ghost stories told on a dark, winter night by an old uncle as the children listen wide-eyed and with an occasional shiver. We cannot call these stories extraordinary literary creations but they are entertaining glimpses of a creative human mind which sees forms in tree stumps or patterns in the starry sky. Though the stories are light, enjoyable reads but these do engage the reader and leaves them enchanted with a twist in the tale. The book can safely be referred to teenager readers for a lazy read on a summer afternoon without the fear of them picking up wrong messages and can equally hold the attention of adult readers for their interesting yarn.
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Satyajit
Ray, known more as the lifetime achievement Oscar-winning film
director, was a multi-faceted personality, being an illustrator,
cartoonist, music director and a short and detective story writer. In
Bangla literature, he created many memorable characters such as Feluda,
Professor Shonku, and Jatayu etc. This volume includes 49 of his short
stories first published in Bangla from the years 1962 to 1983. Nine of
the stories are translated by Ray himself, while Gopa Majumdar, a
Sahitya Akademi Award-winner, has translated the rest of them.
