topics: |  fiction | bengali | children

a gyA.njAkhuRi math-science-fiction book, with the deft characterization and
detailing that marks shirshendu's novels, but the plot isn't as
strong as landmark work such as manojder adbhut bARi or gnosAibAgAner bhut.

some parts are rather weak - e.g. paRanta jamidAr rAghab chaudhuri realizes
that their glory days are coming to an end one day when he feels hungry for
the first time.  he calls a doctor to know what is this ailment... but the
humour does not work.  a boy brings a mysterious book of symbols to golokbAbu 
but the book turns out to be a damp squib and also does not relate to the
plot.  The ending is deus ex machina, as usual.

Summary with Excerpts

neighbouring villages of guptipARA and bidyAdharpur are forever competing. 
from football matches to whose students do better in exams to whose 
piShAchsiddha tAntrik is the more powerful. 

this year, the guptipARA team has defeated bidyAdharpur in their football
match - all because of the mysterious newcomer boy pnAchu.  bishweshwar
haolAdAr of guptipARA is claiming that pnAchu is his nephew, who has come to
stay with him from fulbeRiyA.  

golokbAbu - maths genius of guptipARA.  he dreams math problems.  he was
	  chasing a naughty problem through the forest - almost caught it by
	  the tail - but the wild creature bit him on his hand and ran away. 
   of late, a white man in a padre's dress is coming to him and giving
	  him difficult problems to solve. 
manasA bhaTTAchArya - there is some doubt as to whether manasA bhaTTAcharya
	is a good man or not.  but he is very [bichakShaN] (?wise) . 
	guptipARAr kon gAchhe kaTA pAtA, tAo mansArAmer nakhadarpaNe. 

sanAtan sidhhAi - father of bishweshwar - has taken sanyAs some yeas back,
	now the tAntrik of guptipARA
dulAlkhyApA - tAntrik of bidyAdharpur - not doing too well
	bAuri-bau pawns an earring to pay him
	    250 so that her mother-in-law would catch cholera- but alas it
	    was her khur-shashur who catches olAoThA

byachArAm pramANik's puzzle to mansAbAbu: 

pAshApAshi duTo fuTki. tArpar ekTA chaturbhuj, tArpar upar-nIche tinTe tArA.
duTo DhyAnRA, bnAkA chnAd... kennor mato pAk khAoyA ekTA gol chihna, ekTA
tirchiHna, tArpar ekTA tribhuj.
[two dots side by side. a square. three stars in a column....]
(this puzzle is never resolved)

mansAbAbu: brAhmaNer Ar sei mahimA-o nei, kadar-o nei, bujhle?
byachArAm pramANik: tAi bhAbi - chAl-DAler dAm bARla, tel mashlAr dAm bARla,
    paTal beguner dAm bARla, shudhu bAmuner dAmdar kena paRe JAchchhe seTA
    bujhte pAri nA.

Other Books by Shirshendu