Sunday, February 13, 2022

ইরানী মাংস

 মাখন ১০০ গ্রাম

বড়ো এলাচ ৪টে

চিকেন ১ কিলো

দই ১ কাপ

আদা বাটা ১ চামচ

রসুন বাটা  ১ চামচ

কাজু বাটা  ২ চামচ

দইয়ের মধ্যে কাজু বাটা রসুন বাটা আদা বাটা দিয়ে নুন দিয়ে মাংস আধঘণ্টা ভিজিয়ে রাখবেন। পরে কড়াইতে ১০০ গ্রা মাখন দিয়ে মাখন গরম হলে তাতে ১ কাপ পেঁয়াজ বাটা দিয়ে পেয়াজ একটু লাল হলে বড়ো এলাচের গুঁড়ো দেবেন।

সুফলে কোকো পুডিং

 দুধ ২ কাপ

ক্রিম ১ কাপ

কোকো পাউডার ২ চামচ

জিলেটিন ২ চামচ

কনডেন্সড মিল্ক ১ কাপ

কাজু

কিসমিস

২ চামচ জিলেটিন ১/২ কাপ দুধে গুলে গরম বসিয়ে ফুটিয়ে নেবে। অল্প কোকো পাউডার পেস্ট করে বাকি দুধে মিশিয়ে নিন। মিশিয়ে জ্বাল দিয়ে ঘন করে নিন। তার মধ্যে ক্রিম, জিলেটিন, কনডেন্সড মিল্ক মেশান। তারপরে একদম ঠাণ্ডা হয়ে গেলে ক্রিম ফেটিয়ে মিশিয়ে নিয়ে কাজু  ছড়িয়ে খেতে দিন।

ডিপ ফ্রিজে রাখবেন না।

বিরিয়ানি

 ১ কিলো বাসমতি

১ ১/২ কিলো পাঁঠা অথবা মুরগির মাংস'

দই ১৫০ গ্রাম

এলাচ ১৬টা

লবঙ্গ ১৬

দারচিনি ৪-৫ টুকরা

যৈত্রী ৪-৫টা ফুল

কেশর ১ চিমটি

গোলাপজল ৩ চামচ (বড়ো)

জিরা ১ চামচ

পেঁয়াজ ২টো বড়ো

৮ লবঙ্গ    }    এক সঙ্গে ভেজে গুঁড়ো করে নেবে

৮ এলাচ   }

৫টা যৈত্রী  }

১ চামচ জিরা }

১ ১/২ কিলো মাংস দই আর ওই ভাজা গুঁড়ো নুন দিয়ে মেখে ১ ঘণ্টা ভিজিয়ে রাখবেন।

চাল ধুয়ে ভিজিয়ে রাখবেন ১ ঘণ্টা

তারপরে ভাত রান্না করে (একটু শক্ত থাকবে) ফেন গেলে বড়ো থালায় ছড়িয়ে দেবে। বাকি ৮টা এলাচ, দারচিনি, লবঙ্গ, সব দিয়ে ভাত করতে হবে।

একটা ডেকচিতে প্রথম ছড়িয়ে দেবে, তার ওপর মাংস দিয়ে দিয়ে আবার ভাত ছড়িয়ে দেবে। তার ওপরে মাংসের তেল ঢেলে দেবে। তার উপরে কেশর ৩ চামচ গোলাপ জলে ভিজিয়ে রাখবে, ওটাও ছড়িয়ে দেবে।

কড়াইতে ২০০ গ্রাম ঘী বা তেল নেবে, ওই তেলে ২টো পেঁআজ লাল করে ভেজে তুলে রাখবে, সেই তেলে ম্যারিনেট করা মাংস ছেড়ে দেবে। মাংস তেলে এমন ভাবে রান্না করবে যাতে সিদ্ধ হয়ে যায়। সিদ্ধ হয়ে গেলে মাংসটা তেল থেকে তুলে নেবে। পরে এই তেল ভাতের ওপর দিয়ে ২০/২৫ মিনিট রাখবে।

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Recently came to know about the magazine in which the 8th Prof Shonku story was published:

"The term kalpabigyan was in fact coined as recently as 1962 by Adrish Bardhan to announce the first SF Magazine in Bangla, Ascharja ["Wonder"] of which he was the main editor, where it was initially associated with bigyanbhittik galpa." -
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/bengal

Sunday, March 2, 2008

New thoughts about Abinash-babu and Shonku's age

Abinash-babu is Chatterjee in ... Bhut.

In "Shonku’s Subarna Sujog" Crole is heard saying that Shonku’s presence is essential for the experiment they are going to perform, because Shonku’s sun sign is Scorpio. Since the requirement is according to an ancient European manuscript written in Spain, we can surmise that Shonku was not Scorpio according to the Indian system of assigning sunsigns. So, we now have a third possible date which is not on either 16 June or 16 October. October becomes a more likely month, though.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

All about Prof Shonku by Aniruddha Deb

Professor Shonku
Introduction and family background:
Professor Trilokeswar Shonku – bald, bespectacled and bearded, was a great fictional scientist and inventor – the greatest that India and Bengal has ever seen. He worked alone, mostly – almost exclusively – in his personal laboratory in his residence. However, a few of his inventions were in laboratories in foreign locales, in collaboration with other scientists.
He lived in Giridih, went for morning walk beside the Ushri River, and used a Waterman fountain pen to write – which he had owned for more than 50 years.
During Shonku's time , Giridih was part of Hazaribagh District in Bihar. It had become a district sometime in December 1972, and well after Shonku’s times, it is now part of the Indian state of Jharkhand since Nov, 2000. Those interested can check the following websites to find more about Giridih.

http://www.egiridih.com/
http://giridih.nic.in/
http://www.mapsofindia.com/maps/jharkhand/districts/giridih.jpg
http://giridih.nic.in/Popln.htm
http://giridih.isgreat.org/

While his father Tripureswar was a famous indigenous doctor of Ayurveda, we know nothing about his mother. It appears that he was an only child. His exploits have been chronicled by the great film-maker-author-artist of Bengal, Dr Satyajit Ray.
Professor Shonku stories: The list appears in the following heads:
Name of Story
English translation of name (by me)
Published in
Date of 1st appearance
1
Byomjatrir Diary
The Diary of the Space-traveller
Sandesh
aswin, kartik, agrahayan
1368;
Sep - Nov 1961
2
Professor Shonku O Egypshio Atonko
Professor Shonku and the Egyptian Terror
Sandesh
baishakh
1370
Apr 1963
3
Professor Shonku O Haar
Professor Shonku and Bones
Sandesh
poush
1370
Jan 1964
4
Professor Shonku O Macaw
Professor Shonku and Macaw
Sandesh
sharadiya
1371
Festival 1964
5
Professor Shonku O Ashchorjo Putul
Professor Shonku and the Strange Doll
Sandesh
phalgun
1371
March 1965
6
Professor Shonku O Golok-rahasya
Professor Shonku and the Mysterious Sphere
Sandesh
baishakh
1372
May 1965
7
Professor Shonku O Chi Ching
Professor Shonku and Chi-Ching
Sandesh
sharadiya
1372
Festival 1965
8
Professor Shonku O Bhut
Professor Shonku and the ghost
Ashcharjya
sharadiya
Festival
1966
9
Professor Shonku O Khoka
Professor Shonku and the Boy
shandesh
ashar
1374
July 1968
10
Professor Shonku O Robu
Professor Shonku and Robu
Sandesh
magh-phalgun
1374
Feb - Mar 1968
11
Professor Shonku O Raktamatsya Rahasya
Professor Shonku and Mystery of the Red Fish
Sandesh
baishakh-jaishthya
1375
May - Jun 1968
12
Professor Shonku O Cochabambar Guha
Professor Shonku and the Cave in Cochabamba
Sandesh
phalgun-chaitra
baishakh
1375-1376
Apr - May 1969
13
Professor Shonku O Gorilla
Professor Shonku and Gorilla
Sandesh
sharadiya
1376
Festival 1969
14
Professor Shonku O Bagdader Baksho
Professor Shonku and Box in Baghdad
Sandesh
phalgun-chaitra
1376
Mar - Apr 1970
15
Swapnadwip
The Island of Dreams
Sandesh
baishakh-jaishthya
1378
May - Jun 1971
16
Ashcharjya Prani
The Strange Animal
Sandesh
sharadiya
1378
Festival 1971
17
Marurahasya
The Mystery in the Desert
Sandesh
baishakh-jaishthya
1379
May - Jun 1972
18
Corvus
Corvus
Anandamela
puja
1379
Festival
1972
19
Ekshringo Obhijan
The Unicorn Expedition
Sandesh
agrahayan, poush, magh, phalgun, chaitra
1380
Dec 1973, April 1974
20
Dr Sherring-er Smaranshakti
The Memory of Dr Sherring
Anandamela
puja
1381
Festival 1974
21
Hypnogen
Hypnogen
Sandesh
baishakh-jaishthya-ashar
1383
Apr - Jun 1976
22
Shonkur Shonir Dosha
The Terrible Fate of Shonku
Anandamela
puja
1383
Festival 1976
23
Shonkur Shuborno Sujog
Shonku’s Golden Opportunity
Sandesh
baishakh, jaishthya, ashar
1384
Apr - Jun 1977
24
Munroe Dwiper Rahasya
The Mystery of Munroe Island
Anandamela
puja
1384
Festival 1977
25
Compu
Compu
Anandamela
puja
1385
Festival 1978
26
Mahakasher Doot
The Messenger from Space
Anandamela
puja
1386
Festival 1979
27
Nokurbabu O El Dorado
Nokurbabu and El Dorado
Anandamela
puja
1387
Festival 1980
28
Shonkur Congo Obhijan
Shonku’s Expedition to Congo
(some facts taken from Congo by Michael Crichton)
Anandamela
puja
1388
Festival 1981
29
Professor Shonku O Ufo
Professor Shonku and UFO
Anandamela
puja
1389
Festival 1982
30
Ashchorjontu
Strange-animal
Anandamela
puja
1390
Festival 1983
31
Prof Rondi-r Time Machine
Prof Rondi’s Time Machine
Anandamela
puja
1392
Festival 1985
32
Shonku O Adim Manush
Shonku and Prehistoric Man
Anandamela
puja
1393
Festival 1986
33
Nefrudet-er Samadhi
The Tomb of Nefrudet
Sandesh
puja
1393
Festival 1986
34
Shonkur Paralokcharcha
Shonku’s Study of the Afterworld
pix Samir Sarkar
Anandamela
puja
1394
Festival 1987
35
Shonku O Frankenstein
Shonku and Frankenstein
pix Samir Sarkar
Anandamela
puja
1395
Festival 1988
36
Dr Danieli-r Abishkar
Dr Danieli’s Discovery
Sandesh
puja
1395
Festival 1988
37
don Christobaldi-r Bhabiswatbani
The Predictions of don Christobaldi’s
Anandamela
puja
1396
Festival 1989
38
Swarnaparnee
The Golden Leaf
Anandamela
puja
1397
Festival 1990
Intellectron
Intellectron
incomplete
Anandamela
puja
1399
Festival 1992
Drexel Islander Ghotona
The Incident of Drexel Island
Anandamela
puja
1399
Festival 1992
A short discussion on Shonku stories:
All Shonku stories look like diary entries by Shonku, written as and when the incidents have happened or soon after, except in Swarnaparnee, where he has reminisced in his diary on incidents of about 50 years ago.
The first story, "Byomjatrir Diary" ("The Diary of the Space-traveller") was serialised over 3 issues in 1961 in the premier children’s magazine of those days: Sandesh – a few months after I was born! This first and the third stories have introductions written by someone who has not named himself.I prefer to think of this person as a man (and not a woman) perhaps because when, in the early 1970-s, I first read Professor Shonku stories, I had, for a short while actually believed that it was Satyajit Ray who had only written the introduction, while the diary entries were original notes of a scientist who was lost in space. I still remember the deep sense of discomfort due to the post-script of the first story: I had wondered how Dr Satyajit Ray could have been so careless as to allow the diary of Professor Shonku get destroyed so easily. I was relieved to read in the introduction to the third story ("Professor Shonku and Bones") that as many as 21 new diaries have been found and more of his exploits would be known to us.
Thus, Professor Shonku’s first published story was his last known adventure. All that was published later must have happened before 1961. This can be questioned by those who can give a different explanation to the circumstances which led to the discovery of his first diary, but I will not provide it, since I believe Shonku is lost in space, held against his wish in the planet of Tafa.
This has a romance for me which I don’t wish to lose.
Of the first 17 stories about Professor Shonku that were published over 11 years, 16 were published in Sandesh. The exception was "Professor Shonku o Bhut", which was published in Ashcharjya, in 1966. I do not know what Ashcharjya is, but I think it was another children’s magazine of that time.
The trend of only-Sandesh was broken when Anandamela, the children’s magazine of Ananda Publishers (the only publishing house outside Sandesh and New Script who published Professor Shonku stories regularly) published a Shonku story in their 1379 festival. For some time Shonku stories came out regularly in both Sandesh and Andndamela, but after a few years (1978 onwards) it seems only Anandamela festival issues published these stories. There was an 8- year gap before Sandesh saw a Professor Shanku story again in 1986.
The last two stories listed in the table, but not numbered, were published in the Anandamela’s festival issue of 1992, with short explanatory notes from his son Mr Sandip Ray. They were written in 1989 and 1991, respectively. They are incomplete.
Thirty eight complete stories between 1961 and 1992.
Names of Shonku Stories:
The names of most of the earlier Professor Shonku stories started with the phrase "Professor Shonku and..." till "Professor Shonku o Baghdad-er Baksho". The trend changed thereafter. Of the subsequent 24 stories, only 6 have his name in the title. Strangely, only one has the title "Professor". The other four use his name – rather irreverently – as only "Shonku".
Professor?
I used to wonder at times during my childhood, as to why Professor Shonku would be decked with that salutation, because in none of the stories showed him as a teacher anywhere. As I grew up a little, I realised that he himself had never claimed to be a ‘Professor’ in his diaries. He might be accused of being vain – he has often praised his hearing, eyesight, intelligence, etc. to be above average, he has even called himself "I, the world famous scientist Trilokeswar Shanku," when he cured Dr Sherring’s amnesia. But all that were written in his personal diary which he cannot be accused of publishing. In fact, in the story about his terrible predicament, "Shonkur Shonir Dosha", the news item he quotes from The Times called him "Indian scientist Professor T. Shonku...".
Perhaps Ray thought of this shortcoming towards the end of his writing career. Is that why in the very last complete story "Swarnaparni", we learn that Shonku completed college graduation with honours in both Physics and Chemistry when he was 16 and, started teaching in Scottish Church College when 20 years old. I don’t know if it is recorded anywhere when (if) he stopped teaching there.
Shonku’s livelihood:
What was his source of income? He lived sparsely, and had no family, but he did employ a servant and a gardener, and surely, he spent some money in his research, too. He claimed that his inventions were cheap since they were made from cheap ingredients (as an example, Robu cost only Rs 333 and 7½ annas to make). But even such simple substances as extract of gorgonus, paranoium potentate, egg of the weaver bird, etc. had either to be bought or procured, and neither could have been done without money. His father was a fairly wealthy man, being a renowned ayurvedic doctor (kaviraj). In Professor Shanku’s words, though he was not as "rich as he could have become" he did leave a good amount for his son even after giving a lot to charity. Professor Shonku might have been using this saved money. We do know, however, that he never sold any of his inventions for money. His accounts are rife with instances of him refusing millionaires’ offers.
Shonku’s inventions:
Professor Shanku’s inventions are varied and fascinating. A list of what he has definitely invented, as exhaustive as I could make it, follows:
  1. Snuff gun – a gun which, when fired at someone’s nose, makes people sneeze for hours altogether. The only two people who received shots from this gun were his servant Prahlad, for the relatively innocuous error of removing an old calendar from it’s place over a mirror and an inhabitant of Tafa who angered Shonku by calling him a simpleton. While Shonku assured himself in his diary that Prahlad should have sneezed for about 33 hours, nothing happened to the Tafan, because they "had not learn to sneeze yet". Shonku did think of using it once on his Egyptian tormentor (in "Egypshio Aatonko") but when he needed it, he had unfortunately left it in the hotel.
  2. Rocket – In which he flew off on his final journey to Mars and then to Tafa. He had made the rocket himself, including the material from which the rocket was constructed.
    Bidhushekhar – The robot which helped him make the rocket building material by gestures and made him select the correct final component. He did not do very much more as far as I could make out in the chronicle, though he did learn to read the Mahabharata (and consequently to speak in archaic, formal Bengali), sing a Bengali patriotic song, and hit a Martian fish kind of animal which probably had come to attack Shonku and their rocket.
  3. Pill to cause yawning, deep sleep, and nightmares – the only two people who were exposed to this were Shonku himself and Abinashbabu, his irritating, but helpful neighbour.
  4. Botica Indica – homoeopathy globule sized tablets to fill stomach.
  5. Miracureall – the miraculous medicine which cured all kinds of ailments for which Shonku refused to take full credit. It was made from the golden leaves of the swarnaparnee tree, though he does write in "Egypshio Aatonko" that lobster antenna was one of the ingredients.
  6. Essence – Made of extracts from 36 kinds of flowers.
  7. Mangorange – Mixture of mango and orange. This fruit grew on a mangorange tree in Shonku’s garden. Shonku had probably created more such wonderful hybrid fruits, because the Swedish Academy had later ("Professor Shonku o Ashchorjo Putul") felicitated him for the development of a technique to mix seeds of two fruits to make amalgamated fruit tree and fruits.
  8. Vanishing Medicine – Which was used, as far as we know (other than on experimental animals) only by his pet macaw and enemy Professor Gajanan Tarafdar.
  9. Carbothin – An electricity resisting fabric which can be used to make garments. Shonku developed this after he was struck by lightning in his garden.The only two people known to wear carbothin vests were his friend Archibald Ackroyd, and Shonku himself.
  10. Microsonograph – Sound amplifier which allows humans to hear inaudible noise. eg. Noise made by ants, or the "scream" of pain from a plant when a flower is plucked.
  11. Airconditioning Pill – Kept in the pocket (or under the tongue in some cases), would keep the wearer in comfortable temperature.
  12. Neo-spectreoscope – An instrument to visualise ghosts with.
  13. Robu – His robot. Robu was the only robot in those times which could not only do normal things that robots do, but, additionally, knew mathematics. Also, thanks to his friend Rudolf Pommer’s efforts, Robu could sense Shonku’s feelings. Thus, Robu was the first of his inventions that we know that was refined in a laboratory in a foreign country/city.
  14. Medicine to increase power to smell.
  15. Linguagraph – An instrument to translate languages human and other terrestrial life into Bengali. Does not work on aliens.
  16. Anaesthium pistol – To anaesthetise animals.
  17. Electric pistol – A pistol which fires 400V blasts. The only time Shonku recorded it’s use was when he fired it on a house lizard which was turning into a Chinese dragon. It did not work, perhaps because Shonku did not actually use it. Further details should not be divulged, or else the reader who has not read the story will be very angry with me.
  18. Annihilin pistol – A pistol that annihilates. This, he has written somewhere, was his second invention (after Miracureall). It appears to me that despite being a peaceful man, Shonku used this invention too frequently. He has recorded that he created it to protect himself, and, as he abhorred bloodshed, he invented something which merely annihilated his enemy. His description of the effect of this instrument has been different – one story ended with him bringing it out from his pocket to destroy a robot in a human form. He did not record if it got destroyed, but may be that is when he discovered that it works only on living things. In a later story he wrote that he did not use it on a robot dinosaur, because it works only on living things.
  19. Omniscope – an instrument which is a microscope, telescope and x-ray machine in one.
  20. Shankovite – an anti-gravity metal with which Shonku made a plane and took a nearly fatal trip. It was made from mercury, ox hoof, copper powder, flintstone, etc.
  21. Shankoplane – plane made with shankovite.
  22. Life – Shonku claimed that he was instrumental in the creation of artificial life in an experiment that he and Dr Borgeldt did together in the latter’s laboratory. The entire experiment was done in the excellent laboratory of Prof Borgeldt in St Galen, Switzerland, as Shonku’s own laboratory in Giridih was not advanced enough for such cutting edge research. NB. I am willing to take criticism for listing "life" in a list of "inventions".
  23. Ornithon – an instrument invented to train birds.
  24. Oxymore powder – A powder that helps breathing in low oxygen areas like high altitude.
  25. Remembrain – a memory enhancing instrument.
  26. Compu – A computer built to contain encyclopedic knowledge accessible by verbal questioning, but which developed ability to solve problems independently – in other words, reasoning power. It’s life ended tragically, and at the moment of dying it acquired information that will perhaps never be known by humans, but could not share it. When it had been lost a few days after it’s construction, Shonku commented in his diary that considering it’s cost it was sad that it was hardly used. It did provide solution to a lot of problems before it "died" hardly a couple of days later; however, it was not clear from Shonku’s account whether it had been worth the cost. This was an invention that Shonku had worked on in Osaka, Japan.
  27. Ointment to protect from insect-bite – especially mosquito and barracuda fly of the Amazons.
  28. Shanklon – Plastic – strong but light, with which tents were made in one Congo expedition ("Shonku-r Congo Obhijan").
  29. Nervigour – a medicine to tone up nerves.
  30. Ceribrilant – a medicine to make brain function better.
  31. E.A. – Not quite Shonku’s invention nor discovery. E.A, extraordinary animal in English, or iye, ("er") in Bengali, was the name given to an amazing animal. Though this animal was found by Shanku’s servant, Shanku got the limelight, and into danger because of it.
  32. Evolutin – A medicine that enhances evolutionary process. Was used to increase servant Prahlad’s intelligence temporarily, and on a scientist, on whom the effects, hopefully, was more permanent.
  33. Compudium – computerised medium, to establish contact with departed souls. Shonku was not the only inventor, Kroll and Rudolf Heine worked with him, though the idea was Shonku’s. The work was done in Munich, Germany.
  34. X and anti-X – This was probably the last of Shonku’s invention was described in a complete story. Perhaps by then he was too old and tired to give it a impressive poetic name. X was supposed to bring out Mr Hyde like qualities in animals, while anti-X is, understandably, the antidote. The 4 inventions listed after this are gathered from Shanku’s reminiscences in other stories. The last is from the incomplete story by the same name.
  35. Somnolin – A hypnotic drug. Shonku mentioned the name in "Professor Shonku o Khoka", but did not say then that it was his invention.
  36. Luminimax – Creates light.
  37. Marjarin – (Not margarine) A medicine to increase longevity in cats. The only recipient of this invention seems to have been Newton, Shonku’s cat.
  38. Shankoplast – There is no description of this but it is safe to assume that it is some kind of wonderful plastic.
  39. Intellectron – Intelligence measuring machine – there is nothing to discuss about this machine, except that in this machine average intelligence ranges between 500 and 700, really intelligent people range between 700 and 1000. Those with reading below 500 cannot be called clever. The only three measurements on this were Shonku’s own (917), Abinash-babu’s (377) and Nakur-babu’s (557).
Apart from these, he might have discovered the following things too:
A rubber like paper with which his first discovered diary was made. This paper could be stretched like chewing gum, but releasing it would cause it’s regaining of previous shape. It was fire-proof (the moron who had first got the diary – I am now grown up enough to believe that it was not Ray himself – actually put it into the fire to test even before he had read it – just imagine), but was food for ants!
The ink used to write in that first diary that had the ability to change colour.
I did not include them in my list of inventions, because Shonku has never claimed them to be his. In Golok Rahasya, Shonku mentioned a medicine called Annihilin which cures 277 different illnesses. I did not include this in the original list because this might have been an error of some sort. In the first stories there were too many things named annihilin: the pistol, the medicine and even an acid that a little boy ("Professor Shonku O Khoka") made an elixir to cure himself of some horrendous disease which had caused severe increase in intelligence. The acid could have been a short form of Nitroannihilin acid, though.
Three individuals lived close to him. Two were humans: his servant Prahlad, and neighbour Abinash-babu. The third was his cat, Newton. Shanku loved Newton so much that he had invented Marjarin, a medicine to increase a cat’s life-span. In the last story, "Swarnaparnee", Shonku says that Newton was 24 years old, and in the incomplete story "Drexel Island-er Ghotona" (The Incident of Drexel Island), Shonku says it was Miracureall that had kept his servant and cat in pink of health. However, it does not seem that Abinash-babu had ever benefited from any of his inventions, except for when it suited Shonku’s purpose.
Shonku’s age:
How old was Shonku himself? He refers to his age rarely. In the two stories in which he mentions his age, he gives varying information, but when Shonku was born, Indians were often not very serious about age and date of birth.
He begins "Swarnaparnee" on a 16th June saying: "It is my birthday today." He does not say how old he is then. But we can calculate. He says: "I was reading the letters that my father had written to me 50-52 years ago." We shall take the liberty of deciding these were his father’s last letters. Shonku had joined the teaching cadre of Scottish Church college when 20, and his father died 4 years later. So, it is safe to assume that he was 72 - 74 years old when he wrote his memories of swarnaparnee. By this time, he had been acclaimed as the second most important inventor after Thomas Alva Edison. But there is a diary entry on some other 16th of June, when he did not mention his birthday in that entry.
In the incomplete story "Drexel Island-er Ghotona" (The Incident of Drexel Island), Shanku begins on the 16th October, saying "I completed my 75th year today." This means on that day he was 76. Ray had written this June, 1991.
Again, if we do some simple calculations, we gather that he was about 26 years old when he left for England on 25th October, 1937 ("Swarnaparnee").
Shonku illustrations:
Shanku stories were almost invariably illustrated by Satyajit Ray himself. There were two advantages of this – Ray’s wonderful artwork enhanced the value of the stories, and, because he probably knew the stories better than anybody else, there was no question of any disparity between details of text and picture which one occasionally sees in Bengali stories usually written and illustrated by different people. However, as I have recorded in the table, there were two stories in Anandamela that were illustrated by Mr Samir Sarkar, also a wonderful artist. In Sarkar’s illustrations Shonku appears to be much better spruced up than Ray’s usual pictures.
Having written the stories over more than 30 years, some details got muddled even in Ray’s mind. In "Swapnadwip" ("The Island of Dreams"), he writes: "I was 13 when my first grey hair appeared. I started balding since I was 17 years old. By 21 I had an entirely bald pate, except for tufts of hair above and behind my ears, over my neck and the top of my head. Thus, I looked the same forty five years ago as I do now." Yet, if we see pictures of Professor Shonku when he was more than 25 in 1937 drawn by Ray himself, ("Swarnaparnee"), we see a shock of black hair, no beard and a thin pencil moustache.
Be that as it may, these non-essentials take nothing away from Shonku’s exploits. I still feel the same breath-taking excitement when I read them now as I used to when I was a boy.
Intriguing Shonku:
Shonku’s raw-materials:
The novel chemicals Shonku worked with fascinated me. The strange scientific sounding names were a treasure-house of wonder in my child mind. Imagine a scientist whose laboratory would be full of chemicals such as bicornic acid, paradoxite powder, carbodiabolic acid, nitroannihilin acid, phorosotonic acid and tirranium phosphate; who used (obviously other than the swarnaparnee leaves) lobster antennae to make a medicine that could cure all known ailments; make a mixture of toadstool, snake skin, tortoise egg shell and equios velosilica (rather than tantrum boropaxinate) to make rocket, and make a vanishing elixir with extract of gorgonus, paranoium potentate, sodium bi carbonate, weaver-bird eggs, extract of medicinal herb gadal and tincture iodine! Even better than Harry Potter!
Shonku’s travels:The other wonderful thing about Shonku was that he travelled. All kinds of exotic places were the next day’s destination for him. Let us check out the kind of places he has been to:
Name of story Place(s) Visited
Byomjatrir Diary – Mars and Tafa
Professor Shonku O Egypshio atonko – Port Said, Bubastis – Egypt
Professor Shonku O Haar – Nilgiri Mountains
Professor Shonku O Macaw – Did not travel
Professor Shonku O Ashchorjo Putul – Sweden; Sulitelma, Norway
Professor Shonku O Golok-rahasya – Did not travel
Professor Shonku O Chi Ching – Hong Kong (Reminiscence)
Professor Shonku O Bhut – Did not travel
Professor Shonku O Khoka – A town close to Giridih
Professor Shonku O Robu – Heidelberg, Germany
Professor Shonku O Raktamatsya Rahasya – Deep sea from Gopalpur-on-Sea
Professor Shonku O Cochabambar Guha – Cochabamba, Bolivia
Professor Shonku O Gorilla – Kalehe and forests in Belgian Congo
Professor Shonku O Bagdader Baksho – Baghdad, Iraq
Swapnadwip – Florona Island, lat 16N, long 136E
Ashcharjya Prani – St Galen, Switzerland
Marurahasya – Heraklion, Crete; Cairo, and Baharia (not Bangaria) Oasis, Egypt
Corvus – Santiago, Chile
Ekshringo Obhijan – Tibet
Dr Sherring-er Smaranshakti – Walenstadt, Switzerland
Hypnogen – Out of Oslo, Norway
Shonkur Shonir Dosha – Innsbruk, Austria
Shonkur Shuborno Sujog -- Stonehenge, Salsbury, England; Montefrio, Granada, Spain
Munroe Dwiper Rahasya – Munro Island, lat 33E, long 33N
Compu – Osaka,
Mahakasher Doot – Cairo, nearby desert,
Nokurbabu O El Dorado – Sao Paulo, Brasilia,
Shonkur Kongo Obhijan – Nairobi and forests, Congo, Africa
Professor Shonku O Ufo – Vienna; Takla Makan Desert, China
Ashchorjontu – Koblenz, near Frankfurt, Germany
Prof Rondi-r Time Machine – Milan, Italy
Shonku O Adim Manush – Geneva, Hamburg
Nefrudet-er Samadhi – Cairo, Egypt
Shonkur Paralokcharcha – Munich, Germany
Shonku O Frankenstein – Ingolstadt, Germany
Dr Danieli-r Abishkar – Rome, Italy
Don Christobaldi-r Bhabiswatbani – Singapore, island at 41.24N 161.5W, London
Swarnaparnee – Kalka, London, Berlin
Intellectron – Hamburg (he was supposed to have gone there, but the story is incomplete)
Drexel Islander Ghotona – Drexel Island, Pacific Ocean (he was supposed to have gone there, but the story is incomplete)
Shonku had never been to any of the S E Asian countries except when he passed through Singapore at the end of his life ("don Christobaldi-r Bhabishwatbani"). Strangely, he had never been to Australia, or New Zealand either. What is very surprising is that in spite of being a world renowned scientist, he seems to have never been to any country in N America, though he has been to S America more than once.
Shonku’s villains:
Other than stories of a scientist, all Shonku stories were adventure stories too. Every story has a villain or equivalent who tries to harm Shonku, or what Shonku tries to protect, but needless to say, fails. If we go through the list of his villains, we make a similar surprising discovery.
Analysing the complete stories we find there were 35 villains in his stories, 3 stories were without villains, and of these 35, 7 did not seem to want to harm Shonku in any way. So I have called the others his enemies. Analysing their nationality we get this picture:
Enemies:
Asian 02
Indian 02
European 17. One of his European enemies had two nationalities. So the total does not tally.
  • Norwegian 02
  • German 08
  • Swiss 01
  • Austrian 02
  • Italian 03
  • Spanish 01
  • English 01
American 04
S American 02
  • Bolivian 01
  • Chilean 01
Egyptian 01
No nationality 01
Just like his travel destinations, he seems to have more European enemies than any other place, hardly any from the Americas (except near the end of his stories) and only one from England. None from the Far East, or Australia or New Zealand. I have deliberately not given a list of villains story by story, since whoever reads this before his stories ought not to get to know the names of villains. And it is due to the very same reason that I have refrained from defining the "no nationality" entry.
Shonku’s friends:
"Professor Shonku seems to have more enemies than friends," my daughter had said when she had first heard the stories. "That is because," I had explained, "he keeps his friends and annihilates his enemies."
Though Shonku is consistent about his friends, he is not so about their identities. All are scientists, but the exact nature of their specialisation varies from time to time.
These are his best friends:John Summerville, English biologist at some places, biochemist in "Ashchorjo Prani", physicist in "Hypnogen".
Wilhelm Crole, German. We know he is very interested in quasi-scientific areas such as ghosts and witchcraft. In fact, in most stories he is associated with such scenarios as experiments in alchemy, viewing or contacting departed souls, etc. However, in some place he claims he is a geologist. Despite being someone who is interested in the questionable areas of science, he is also someone who doesn’t easily accept what is out of the ordinary ("Mahakasher Doot").
Jeremy Saunders, English. He was geologist in "Ekshringo Obhijan" and in "Shonkur Shuborno Shujog" and a biologist in "Swarnaparnee". He was called an anthropologist in some place.
Some other friends:
Archibald Ackroyd – An English zoologist who died in the fifth story, but the fact that he was a great friend is evidenced in the 8th story, when Shonku, having invented his neo-spectreoscope, first thought of talking to the departed soul of this gentleman.
Benjamin Hodgkins – American physicist in Hongkong.
Rudolf Pommer – German computer scientist.
Hugo Dumberton – scientist from Honolulu.
Julian Gregory – English zoologist and explorer.
Francis Fielding – famous English astronomer.
Chris McPherson – geologist and mining specialist.
James Summerton – English archeologist


Abinash-babu and Nokur-babu:
No list of Professor Shonku’s friends can be completed without Abinash-babu or Nokur-babu. Abinash Chandra Majumdar (one website also mentions Chatterjee, but I have not come across this surname in any of the stories. I will come back if I do), was his neighbour. In Byomjatrir Diary, the first story that mentioned Abinash-babu, it appeared as though he was not very friendly with Shonku, since he had demanded a compensation of Rs 500 (a princely sum in 1961) for his radish field in the kitchen garden because Shonku’s rocket had destroyed it. However, in the subsequent stories we find a peculiar relationship between the two. It appears that on the one hand Shonku thinks him to be a bumpkin who is unable to appreciate Shonku’s intelligence, fame, research and inventions, yet, it seems that Shonku is very interested in his approval.
A few examples:1. "A few crickets had somehow entered my spacesuit. As I was dusting it this morning, Abinash-babu arrived. ‘What ho,’ said he, ‘I believe you are running off to Moonland or Marsland. What about my money?’
"This is an example of Abinash-babu’s sense of humour. Nothing but stupid jokes if there is any discussion about scientific matters. When I was first constructing my rocket, he had come to give me advice. ‘Why don’t you fly your firework on the day of Kalipuja? Kids will enjoy it.’
"At times it seems to me that perhaps Abinash-babu even doesn’t believe in the fact that the earth is round and goes round the sun as it spins on it’s axis." – Byomjatrir Diary.
As he described how he returned home with a sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy:"I will send for Abinash-babu tomorrow and open the lid of the sarcophagus in front of him; to deride my research has become a habit with him. May be he will stop talking after he sees this." – Egypshio Aatonko.
Yet another:"After walking along for a while Abinashbabu came out with the reason himself: ‘I have found a toy today. I will show it to you.’
"‘Toy?’
"‘Come along. You will feel like taking it – but I won’t give it to you.’
"I thought to myself: ‘You might still be of an age to play with toys – but I am not a baby anymore!" – Golok Rahasya.
At best, Abinash-babu is portrayed as a well-meaning buffoon:"I completed 75 years today. Abinash-babu had come in the morning, he shook me by the hand and said: ‘Many happy days of the return.’ The sincerity in his behaviour was so genuine that I did not correct his English." – Drexel Island-er Ghotona.
He acknowledged Abinash-babu as his friend rarely, but the most touching acknowledgement albeit unconscious, came at a moment when he thought he was dying: "I could not remain seated in the chair any more. I stood up. My handkerchief was of no use any more. The instruments in the room, tables and chairs, even the flask in front of me were becoming difficult to see. A curtain of darkness was descending in front of my eyes. I was finding it difficult to stand. The table was in front of me. I bent over it. I remembered my cat... Prahlad... Giridih... my garden... my favourite flowering plant... Abinash-babu..." – Ashcharjya Prani. And the only time I found him calling Abinash-babu his friend was when he was in a terrible predicament and needed him to bail him out ("Shonku’s Shonir Dosha"). Selfish, if you ask me.
Despite Shonku’s machine pegging Abinash-babu’s intelligence at 377 – definitely below average (Shonku’s intelligence ratings have been listed in the list of inventions), we don’t find Abinash-babu to be foolish or stupid in any way. He might not have been as intelligent or well-read as Shonku, but he seemed to be an ordinary human being in most ways. He had a wonderful sense of humour, and what Shonku derided him for was his lack of bookish learning, and unfortunately took an almost childish pleasure in trying to fool him with his knowledge and latest inventions. One must admit, though, that Abinash-babu’s retorts were often quite impressive. Consider his comment when Shonku tried to impress him with his anti-gravity metal "Shankovite" and picked up a piece of it and let it remain suspended in space in front of his nose. "It hovers effectively, yet I cannot hear a whine of wings! What insect is this, sir?" – Swapnadwip.
Abinash-babu accompanied Shonku on a four of his trips. In their trips to Belgian Congo ("Professor Shonku O Gorilla") he helped in rescuing Shonku from a fate worse than death. In Florona ("Swapnadip") he was alone when Shonku was entirely incapacitated. And in both, neither Shonku, and hence nor the rest of the world would have known clearly what happened had he not been there. Shonku’s diary never acknowledges this in any way.
Abinash-babu’s sense of humour in various situations is quite commendable. When Shonku was planning take him along in his trip to Tibet to search for Unicorns, he warned Shonku thus: "‘Sir, don’t ask me to mingle with your foreign friends. You may know sixty four languages; I have none but Bengali. I can try with "Good Morning" and "Good Evening" in the morning and evening, and if one of them falls into the gorge, I might even be able to manage a "Good bye" – but don’t expect anything more. Rather, tell them that I am a silent ascetic, on a pilgrimage.’"
Superb!
(Shonku claimed that he knew 69 languages, of which he had been able to recover 56 after his experience in Florona. Abinash-babu says "I have none but Bengali", but he did understand Massingham’s English clearly in ".. Gorilla". Surely, he was more accomplished than he claimed to be.)
Ray had perhaps tried to create Abinash-babu in the same lines as Lalmohon-babu in his Felu-da stories, but it did not take off. Much later, another character entered the stories, and accompanied Shonku in more than one trip to various foreign locales, and was a protector. He was Nokur Chandra Biswas, who was, according to Shonku naturally possessed the abilities of hypnotism, telepathy and clairvoyance. He too helped Shonku in situations of dire necessity, and warned him of danger from beforehand. Shonku was much more kind and helpful towards him than he was ever towards Abinash-babu.
The other thing to note is that Shonku has no Indian scientist in his list of friends or associates. I wonder if it is because there was no one who could match his intellect and ability.
Shonku’s intelligence:
Though Shonku claimed himself to be very intelligent (his academic and inventor’s career along with own machine bear testimony to the fact), and he claims that he has a cool brain in the face of danger, he did not behave intelligently faced with what he considered his most diabolical enemy in "Shonkur Shonir Dosha". When he needed to prove that he had not been in Innsbruk, Austria at a time when he was being accused of slandering others in that city, he tried gathering witnesses, instead of looking into his passport.
Shonku – greatest inventor?
And finally, Shonku did claim he had been acclaimed as among the best inventors that the world has ever known – in fact, second only to Thomas Edison. I wonder would many of us rate his inventions at par with electric light or the moving picture? Or would Shonku be able to claim patent for as many as 1093 inventions? (Yes, that is the number of Edison’s patents, though several were patents on the same issue, eg, there are scores of patents related to the telegraph itself.) But, to my mind, what puts Shonku far behind is the fact that none of his inventions seem to have ever been used by anybody else but he himself: unless he gave it to someone to use. In fact, he has written that he has, while on expeditions, use anti-insect-bite ointments only for himself and his friends, and ignored even the accompanying locals. This has been the story of his carbothin vest, his botica indica, air conditioning pill or oxymore powder. This has been the story of his most wonderful invention Miracureall, though he later explained why it could not be mass produced. It needed as an active ingredient the leaves of a plant which he had found in the foothills of the Western Himalayas, and had cultivated in his garden. An unknown chemical was detected in the tablets in 1937 which made it impossible to produce the medicine in a laboratory. It is strange that on the one hand, Shonku was heartbroken that his medicine will not be able to help the masses; yet, he made no offer to any pharmaceutical company to grow the plant and make Miracureall (considering the fact that it grew in the foothills of the Himalayas and equally well in Shonku’s garden in Giridih, it must have been a hardy little shrub); again, there seems to have been no further attempt to identify this unknown chemical at any time in the subsequent decades despite such improvements in scientific methods.
No, I am afraid, Shonku’s pride in not selling his inventions to industrialists and businessmen has actually been more harmful than beneficial to mankind and that is precisely why he cannot rate as one of the best. Science cannot exist in a vacuum.