Best Of Satyajit Ray , livre ebook

The Best of Satyajit Ray


Translated from the Bengali by the author and Gopa Majumdar
Contents
About the Author
By the Same Author
Introduction
The Hungry Septopus
Ratan Babu and that Man
Bonku Babu s Friend
The Two Magicians
Ashamanja Babu s Dog
Patol Babu, Film Star
Indigo
Bipin Chowdhury s Lapse of Memory
Fritz
Barin Bhowmick s Ailment
The Maths Teacher, Mr Pink and Tipu
Big Bill
Khagam
Anath Babu s Terror
The Small World of Sadananda
The Pterodactyl s Egg
Shibu And The Monster
Mr Eccentric
A Strange Night for Mr Shasmal
Bhuto
Pikoo s Diary
Follow Penguin
Copyright
About the Author
Satyajit Ray was born on 2 May 1921 in Calcutta. He is generally regarded as India s greatest filmmaker ever, with films like Pather Panchali (1955), Charulata (1964), Shatranj Ke Khilari (1977) and Ghare Baire (1984) to his credit. Both the British Federation of Film Societies and the Moscow Film Festival Committee named him one of the greatest directors of the second half of the twentieth century. In 1992, he was awarded the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science and, in the same year, was also honoured with the Bharat Ratna.
Apart from being a filmmaker, Satyajit Ray was a writer of repute. In 1961, he revived the Bengali children s magazine, Sandesh, to which he contributed numerous poems, stories and essays over the years. He has to his credit a series of bestsellers featuring the characters Feluda, Professor Shonku and Uncle Tarini, as well as several collections of short stories. In 1978, Oxford University awarded him its D.Litt degree.
Satyajit Ray died in Calcutta in April 1992.
*
Gopa Majumdar was born and brought up in Delhi. Growing up amidst people from various parts of the country, she learnt to communicate with those who did not speak her language, and whose language she could not understand. It taught her the basic principles of translation quite early in life.
Namaste magazine was the first to publish her translation of Bengali short stories. Subsequently, nine volumes of her translations of Satyajit Ray have been published by Penguin Books. Among her other notable works are her translations of Ashapurna Debi s Subarnalata, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay s Aparajito and Taslima Nasrin s My Girlhood. In 1995, she was given the Katha award for translation. She lives in Britain at present, and is actively involved in promoting Indian literature abroad.
By the Same Author
By Satyajit Ray in Penguin Books
Feluda Stories
The Adventures of Feluda
The Complete Adventures of Feluda (2 volumes)
The Emperor s Ring
Feluda s Last Case
The House of Death
The Mystery of the Elephant God
The Mystery of the Pink Pearl
The Royal Bengal Mystery
Professor Shonku Stories
The Incredible Adventures of Professor Shonku
Short Stories
The Best of Satyajit Ray
Indigo: Stories
Stranger: Stories
Memoirs
Childhood Days
My Years with Apu
Introduction
In 1950, Satyajit Ray stood behind a camera and began shooting his first film, Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road). No one knew it then, but he was soon to be established as one of the world s great filmmakers.
In 1961, he did something else that was to have wide-ranging repercussions. He decided to revive Sandesh, the children s magazine that was once produced by his father and grandfather. The camera was put aside for a while. Ray picked up a pen instead, to write for Sandesh and to embellish its pages with unforgettable illustrations. That simple act was to turn him into the most successful writer in modern Bengal. Nearly ten years have passed after his death, but his position as Bengal s foremost author remains unchallenged even today.
Between 1961 and 1992, Ray wrote more than seventy-five short stories on a variety of themes, in addition to thirty-five detective stories featuring the sleuth, Feluda, and nearly forty science-fiction stories describing the adventures of Professor Shonku. Feluda and Shonku acquired a large number of admirers, so much so that eventually they were hijacked by other magazines. What appeared almost exclusively in Sandesh were the short stories.
It has always been my belief that even if Ray had not written a single Feluda or Shonku story-remarkable though each one is-his success as a writer would not have been affected in any way. His short stories in themselves are memorable enough to guarantee him captivated readers through several generations of posterity. The reason for this, however, is not easy to pin down. Why do his stories make such an impact on his readers? Is it his language? His style? The wide range of his interests? The very sensitive treatment of his characters? His humour? Or the plots, which can rival those of the best storytellers in the business?
The truth is that there is no one specific reason; it is simply a combination of all these factors that produce the final, magical effect. Before compiling the list of stories for this collection, I asked several readers which they thought might qualify as the best of Ray s stories, which stood out in their memory better and sharper than all the others. The response was quick and unanimous. The stories with a supernatural element got the highest votes. Why? It is a genre that has always been popular with writers; scores of ghost stories and other spooky tales had been written long before Ray produced his first. In fact, he admitted freely to having a special fascination for tales of the fantastic and the supernatural . It is not surprising that he chose to write about friendly aliens (years before ET or anything of that ilk entered our lives), or a carnivorous plant with a terrifying appetite, or the spine-chilling curse of a sadhu that could transform a man into a snake. The question is, what made these stories different from the others? What was so special about them?
One reader put it rather aptly, Ray doesn t go into lengthy descriptions. Yet, you can see-even feel -it all happening. That s enough to bring out the goose pimples! Clearly, here the filmmaker in Ray gave him an edge over other writers. His words were brief, simple, lucid. But the impression that emerged was extraordinarily rich in detail.
The same applied to all his other stories, whatever their theme. However, the apparent simplicity in these stories was often deceptive. Behind it lay complex emotions and a tangled web of events. That was the reason why they appealed to young and old alike. The young were happy with a simple tale. It was left to the adults to pick up the subtleties.
The best example of this is the story Pikoo s Diary , which appears here for the first time in translation. It is unquestionably one of the most powerful stories that Ray ever wrote; certainly, it was the most difficult to translate. It is, in fact, one of those rare stories that Ray wrote specifically for adults. In 1981, he made a telefilm ( Pikoo ) based on this story. Those who have seen the film will recognize most of the details in the story. But the telling of the story itself remains unique, captured as it is through the eyes of a child. Having seen his grandfather write a diary, Pikoo decides to follow suit. His language is childish, his spellings appalling, his knowledge of punctuation virtually non-existent. Yet, one vivid image chases another, like images in a kaleidoscope.
When the story was written-in 1970-the Naxalite movement in Bengal was at its height. Anyone who lived in Calcutta at the time would recall the frequent explosions in the streets and the ensuing fear and anxiety. It was not unusual then for a young man to get involved in politics, and disappear from home. In this particular case, the home itself is torn apart by strife between Pikoo s parents and an adulterous affair-and little Pikoo faithfully records every detail in his notebook, without even realizing the implication of what he is writing. In order to preserve the flavour of the original, this story has been set in a child s handwriting font.
There are three other stories that I have translated especially for this collection: The Hungry Septopus , Bonku Babu s Friend and Mr Eccentric . Translations of The Two Magicians , Bipin Chowdhury s Lapse of Memory and The Small World of Sadananda are made available here in volume form over a decade after their first publication. The other stories have appeared previously in Stranger and Indigo, the two collections of Ray s stories published by Penguin India. In all there are twenty-one stories that I have chosen as the best , of which no less than eight were translated by Ray himself. The dates of original composition (in Bengali) have been provided at the end of each story for the interested reader.
Although a number of readers were consulted before a decision was made on what might comprise the best , some may well feel that their own favourite story has been left out. I must offer my apologies to these readers. But I hope that they will, nonetheless, share my joy in seeing this compilation published in time to mark the eightieth anniversary of the birth of the author.
This very special book is dedicated to a very special person-Souradeep Ray, who celebrates his eleventh birthday in 2001. This book is for you, Souradeep, because your grandfather would certainly have wanted you to have the best.
Gopa Majumdar
London
October 2001
The Hungry Septopus
T here it was again-the sound of someone rattling the knocker on my front door. I gave an involuntary exclamation of annoyance. This was the fourth interruption this evening. How was a man expected to work? There was no sign of Kartik, either. He had left for the market a long time ago.
I was forced to leave my desk and open the door myself. It took me a while to recognize the man who was standing outside. When I did, I felt profoundly startled. Why, it was Kanti Babu!
What a surprise! Do come in, I said.
So you have recognized me?
Y