Ageless detective stories for all ages

Nothing like a good whodunnit on a cold winter evening that one can read curled up in a chair with a cup of steaming coffee by one's side, determined to finish it before going to bed.

The Bangla language reader has grown up with a whole host of these: Hemendra Kumar Ray's Bimal-Kumar and Jayanto-Manik, whose stories were written in the forties, the Byomkesh series by Saradindu Bandopadhyay, which have been translated into Hindi, and made into a Hindi TV serial, and among recent works, the stories of Feluda by Satyajit Ray, which have been translated into English.

All this is part of the rich tradition of "Kishore Sahitya" or literature for adolescents/young adults. While literature in the West sees this as a new category, most of us in India have grown up with it.

The Colonel Investigates by Syed Mustafa Siraj belongs to this category, though the three stories in it can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

The translator points out in the Introduction that the rich world of Bangla literature for young adults is yet to be accessed by the English language reader and the three stories in this collection, among the ones suggested by the writer himself for translation, could be taken as a starting point.

The Colonel named Niladri Sarkar, retired from the army, is an amateur detective who works on cases that have puzzled the police.

He is an eccentric old nature lover who collects butterflies as well as rare varieties of orchids and cactii in the "plant world" on his terrace, which he looks after with great care.

His young reporter friend Jayanto who works with Dainik Satyasebak is his assistant as well as the narrator of the stories. He loves a short siesta after lunch, despite the endless cups of coffee the two of them have, and often stops bathing in winter.

To quote from the Introduction, "He wants to play it safe most of the time, but when the Colonel decides to throw caution to the winds, he joins him in his reckless enterprises, despite his misgivings about the discomfort and dangers they might lead to."

Sometimes, Haldarmashai, a retired police officer, joins them. The Colonel however, towers over the two of them in his quick comprehension and physical nimbleness, something that reminds one of Sherlock Holmes.

The first story, "The Wise Words of Ram Sharma", takes place in a dilapidated old house in Ramshankarpur, and is concerned with the search of a rare book, which is missing.

A series of thefts, impersonations and even a murder confront him. The sacred, historical nail is not discovered and the Colonel is quite unhappy about it.

In "The Inauspicious Goddess" or Alakshmi as she is known in Bangla, the colonel reminds the reader again of Sherlock Holmes in the beginning, when he is able to deduce a lot about Professor Tanacha after a casual meeting.

The story has a bizarre setting as its title suggests and takes unexpected twists and turns.

What appears to be supernatural activity, turns to be the work of criminals in "The Riddle of Thirty-two". They are interested in the treasure which turns out to be a priceless necklace studded with diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.

It is a brilliant idea to scare people away from this area where the treasure is supposed to be hidden. It would not be fair to divulge their secrets; the reader should figure them out oneself.

Some of the nuances of the dialogue, especially the words in the East Bengal dialect spoken by Haldarmashai, have been lost in translation.

The translator herself admits this when she says, "I regret that for obvious reasons, his hilarious ramblings in the east Bengali dialect could not be incorporated suggestively in the text in a manner that could even remotely, capture their true colour and flavour."

Of course, a good translator is capable of making the translated text stand on its own in the target language and be enjoyed on its own merit by the reader, rather than be constantly compared with the source language text.

One feels that the stories in The Colonel Investigates can be enjoyed fully by the young English language reader as well as older ones. What makes them stand out is the quaint backdrop, mostly of small towns and villages, along with a feudal set-up, something that one remembers after one has solved the mysteries with the Colonel and Jayanto.

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The Colonel Investigates

Syed Mustafa Siraj (translated into English by Nivedita Sen)
Srishti
Price: Rs 195;
Pages: 327