Speaking of twists in the tale, the last line in at least two of the stories in this collection-Moti Nandy’s News Of A Murder and Mahasweta Devi’s Urvashi And Johnny-will leave the reader stunned and speechless. And Sinha’s translation is as good as the one Pritish Nandy did in the 1980s.īanaphool, the most prolific Bengali short story writer of all time-he wrote hundreds of them-is represented by a wonderful whimsical two-pager, with a freaky twist in the tale that leaves you with a warm glow. Written entirely in the second person (an unheard-of stylistic device in the 1950s, when it was published), it masterfully fuses the real and the surreal in what is literally a fever dream, yet is totally unforgettable on pure “story value". The Discovery Of Telenapota by Premendra Mitra-by a long distance, my favourite Bengali writer-is possibly the most magical short story I’ve ever read. This story of the relationship between a destitute Muslim farmer (his religion is crucial to the story) and his bull Mahesh (the bull’s name is crucial too Shiva’s vahana-mount-was a bull, and Mahesh is one of Shiva’s many names) should be included in every high-school textbook in every Indian language, especially in these fractious times and adults of every ideological hue must find time and a way to read it (and be mature enough not to politicize it). Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Mahesh is an all-time classic, a heart-rending tale that can bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened cynic. One can then sit back and enjoy-sometimes marvel at, or even immerse oneself in-what is on offer. So, obviously, the only fair way to approach this book is by respecting the selection criteria that Sinha is absolutely open about. He makes it clear that the book is not meant to be either a representative cross-section of the Bengali short story, or “a potted history" of the form: “These are, simply, stories I have loved and that have made a deep impression on me." Readers who aren’t aware of these trams-as most non-Calcuttans wouldn’t be-may not comprehend the story, since nowhere does Gangopadhyay mention either “ladies’ special" or tram (at the time of the story’s publication, everyone knew what the writer was talking about, because the event was still fresh in Bengali memory).īut when you read Sinha’s introduction to the anthology, you realize that such questions or arguments are not relevant. The main author of the 2 stories(books) are not available even we have searched a lot and so marked as Indian myth.Why have Manik and Sharadindu, who, along with Bibhutibhushan and Tarashankar, form the quartet of great Bandyopadhyays of Bengali literature, been excluded? And why include Bibhutibhushan’s Einstein And Indubala, which is a simplistic moral fable? As for Post-mortem, Sunil Gangopadhyay based it on a real-life incident-an elderly gentleman boarded a “ladies’ special" tram by mistake, and when the women passengers laughed at him and mocked him, he jumped off the running tram, flustered, and was killed.
As we know thatīetal Panchabingshati, 32 Singhasan, Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe are very popular stories for Bengali book lovers in which there is a chemistry of horror, myth, adventure and many more. These book is formatted mainly for children and young generation but readers of every age will love to read this book. Kishore Bishwa Classics ( কিশোর বিশ্ব ক্লাসিকস ) is a combination of 12 Indian and Western stories which has been translated and edited by Sudhanshu Ranjan Ghosh, one of the well known Bengali author and translator who translated many other famous western books to the Bengali language like Sherlock Holmes Omnibus ( শার্লক হোমস অমনিবাস ) and many more.
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