Feluda strikes again
NIMI KURIAN
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Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu are on the trail once again.
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"Uncle Sidhu never married. Instead of a wife, he lives with his books. `My wife, my child, my mother, father, brother, sister, doctor, master... everything in life that you can think of is here, amongst my books. Books are my family, my friends!' he claims." Ray's love of books and writing is evident in his portrayal of Uncle Sidhu, a character in The Secret of the Cemetery.
It's the old gang — Feluda, with his nephew Topshe and Lalmohan Babu, back at work busting crime and unravelling the mysteries that baffle man. In The Secret of the Cemetery, it is Feluda's interest in the history of Calcutta that sets off a chain of events. A visit to the cemetery on Park Street, an old grave that has been tampered with and many clues that finally unveils the mystery of the tampered grave. The Criminals of Kathmandu takes us back to the old enemy Maganlal Meghraj of Benares. Feluda is now on the trail of an international gang dealing in spurious drugs. As usual Lalmohan Babu or Jatayu as he called, makes some very amusing observations and also his actions under the influence of LSD. Though the title Incident on the Kalka Mail has echoes of the Murder on the Orient Express, the story is about a missing suitcase that the trio set out to find. Feluda's powers of observation are reminiscent of Holmes and his power of deduction
"Feluda gave me a sidelong glance and said, `Why are you licking your lips? Has there been a strange phone call?'
`How did you guess?' I asked, astonished.
`From the way you've kept the receiver. Besides, the whole thing's become so complicated that I'd have been surprised if we didn't get a few weird calls.'"
And in The Golden Fortress the three of them are off to Rajasthan in search of parapsychologist Dr. Hajra.
Ray's characters in The Adventures of Feluda series are full of vigour and problems and mysteries search them out. Topshe the narrator is in awe of the great detective Feluda, while Lalmohan Babu or Jatayu as he is known, is full of ideas for his new book. Simply and interestingly written, these books will continue to intrigue and fascinate.
Incident on the Kalka Mail, The Golden Fortress, The Secret of the Cemetery, Criminals of Kathmandu by Satyajit Ray, Puffin Books, Rs. 99 each.
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