Elementary, my dear Ray

PREMA SRINIVASAN

WHAT strikes the reader on the surface in Ray's stories is his precise evocation of mood, time and place, an almost perfect recreation of the Indian milieu. In his collection of short stories entitled Indigo, Satyajit Ray deals with the supernatural, the peculiar and the inexplicable in his own inimitable style. We are informed that Satyajit Ray was greatly influenced by Conan Doyle and Ray's preoccupation with the detective story genre is well-known. Now yet another dimension is apparent in this collection where tales of dark horror and ghost stories jostle together with yarns about ordinary people in extraordinary situations.

Bengal was one of the pioneer Indian states in the revival of learning and literature that was to flower all over our country in the late 19th century. Here as well as elsewhere in the world, children's fiction had its origin in the region's folklore which consisted mainly of humorous animal stories laden with child appeal. During the time of Ishwar Chander Vidyasagar 1847-91, literature took many leaps forward in Bengal. Upendra Kishore Ray Choudhury, grandfather of Satyajit Ray, sought to preserve Bengal's rich folklore and brought out Tun Tunir Boi (1910) or the Tailor Bird's Book. He also founded Sandesh, a magazine for children. His son Sukumar Ray, well known as a writer of nonsense verse for children, continued to amuse a generation of children. Sukumar Ray's son Satyajit was a versatile artist, an excellent book illustrator, typographer, translator, writer of detective fiction as well as stories covering a wide range in time, content and milieu. He was a student of art primarily and his deep interest in films led to his establishing the Calcutta Film Society in 1947. His first film "Pathar Panchali" was an award winner at the Cannes Film Festival and established Ray as a director of international stature. Despite his total preoccupation with film making, Ray still found time for children's literature. In 1961, he revived the children's magazine Sandesh founded by his father and continued to contribute stories and poems. When he published "Badshahi Angti "(The Imperial Ring), he became a popular children's writer, particularly of the detective story genre. Ray's "Feluda" stories were modeled on Sherlock Holmes' detective tales, as magic and mystery were both very dear to his heart. In his own words, Ray has confessed in the Introduction to the collection in Indigo "there are straightforward tales as well as tales of the fantastic and the supernatural for which I have a special fascination. I enjoy writing stories for its own sake and derive a pleasure from it which is quite distinct from the pleasure of the vastly more intricate business of making a film."

It is intriguing to read these spine-tingling tales from the other side of midnight. In Indigo 29-year-old Aniruddha Bose experiences an eerie adventure in a Dak bungalow which takes him back in time to relive the death of an English indigo planter that happened a hundred years ago. In "Khagam" , a man kills a Sadhu's pet snake and invites a curse which brings about terrible havoc on his physical self. In "Big Bill", the protagonist is faced with an extraordinary situation: a newly hatched chick picked up from the forest suddenly proves to be a terrible menace as it grows bigger and fiercer day by day. It requires the shrewd wit of Tulsi Babu, who after experiencing the juice of "Chakraparna" loses his taste for meat, to solve the problem. When the bird's carnivorous instincts prove to be dangerous to society, Tulsi Babu administers the juice disguised in a chunk of meat and feeds the bird, the bird turns vegetarian and the reign of terror in Dandakaranya comes to an end.

There is also a brand new detective story for the "Feluda" fans entitled "The Magical Mystery". This was discovered amongst Ray's papers after his demise and several tales featuring Uncle Tarini the master story-teller, appearing in translation for the first time. It is essential to remember here that most of these tales were written in Bengali and is made available to us due to the expertise of the translator, Gopa Majumdar. Majumdar who has translated seven volumes of Ray's detective stories published by Penguin books, says "Every story bears evidence of his (Ray) eye for detail, and his ability to convey a lot through just a few well-chosen words... giving the readers a fair idea of how Ray handled the age old tradition of a story-within-a story."

Some of the stories may shock us and others surprise us but they consistently manage to entertain even the most blase page turner. "A strange night for Mr. Shasmal" is as eerie as any ghost story from ancient mythology when all the creatures killed mercilessly by Shasmal come together for revenge. We also have light-hearted humour when "Ashamanja, Babu's dog, starts laughing, much to the amazement of the on-lookers. Story after story the edgy plots unwind through murky terrors but the heroes of Ray are always deeply human and not particularly heroic. May be the charm lies in the fact they are easily identifiable as bystanders circumscribed by events beyond their control. Sometimes their past misdeeds catch up with them or they simply make wrong choices without understanding the consequences of their acts. Even if they do witness strange and supernatural events and characters, sooner or later they come back to their own world of reality, realising that in life not everything is what it appears to be. There is no moral left to nag the reader once the stories are done and the supernatural overtones trail off easily into everyday occurrences. The reader going through this short story collection wonders at the amazing capacity of the author to recreate worlds possessing infinite variety, vastly satisfying to a youthful audience craving for excitement and entertainment.

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