A worthy collection

This time, while coming back from home, I brought with me the book titled " Doshti Kishore uponnyas" authored by Shirshendu Mukhopadhyay. Although not a "kishore" any more I am with respect to age, but still now, I enjoy juvenile literature-----the likes of "thakurmar jhuli", the evergreen works of Lila Mazumdar, Narayan Gangopadhyay(after all, who can ever forget the great Tenida???), Premendra Mitra, and above all, the great Sukumar Ray (as a child, I had always nurtured the dream of being Pagla Dashu ). From time to time, I go back and read these books, and refresh myself. Back home, during exam time, specially after a disastrous exam performance, I used to come home tired and gloomy. But as soon as I opened "Tenida Samagra" and started reading one of the stories, all the sadness would disappear instantly and my heart would fill with joy and laughter.

Among the current active writers, I admire Shirshendu the most , considering juvenile literature . I still remember when I read Shirshedu for the first time. The book was called "Manojder adbhut baari", and from that time onwards, I have tried not to miss any single creation of him. Even now, the first story which I read from the Puja number of Anandamela is Shirshendu's. He posesses a unique power of creating a world for the children, a world of fantasy, humour, fun and joy. Once started, its very hard to restrict oneself before completing the story or the novel.

I like the way he builds the plot. Most of the stories are set in villages, where we get all sorts of people : rich, poor, stupid, shrewd, petty thieves, beggars, the Officer-in-Charge of the local police station, a madman, one or two wisemen and so on. All the characters are so natural with their own peculiar characteristics that the reader falls in love with them. Some characters are so unique and funny that one cannot stop laughing, like , the O.C , rather coming to the police station, is taking lessons in Ghazals, a Hunter, getting frustrated with himself, is using his rifle to clean the drain, the madman is lecturing a scientist about Newton's laws!!!!!

Another aspect of Shirshendu's novels is the presence of Ghosts ! Most of them are very well-behaved, they always try to help people,supply ideas as and when needed to the helpless, punish the villains and bring peace to the village. His creation of villains also are much enjoyable, one likes them rather than hating them. The most important thing is the absence of violence ! All the stories end with a positive note, where the evil-doers vow to do good and condemn their own evil deeds.

I have been reading the book I mentioned at the beginning for the last couple of weeks. Although five or six novels were read before, but it is always a pleasure to re-read these and go back to childhood, and cherish some sweet old memories!

Lastly, the list of the novels in the book goes like this:

1. Gour er koboch
2. Harano Kakatua
3. Golmaal
4. Chakrapur er Chakkar e
5. Chhayamoy
6. Sonar medel
7. Patalghor
8. Horipur er horek kaando
9. Dudhshayor er Dwip
10. Bipin Babur bipod.