PUBLISHED IN DIYALA
Exams are over! Those ghastly Maths, History, Geography, Physical science!
Off’s!!! Pintu was really disgusted. He could not take his regular lunch and dinner properly. His vociferous appetite seemed to be in a low gear! Sleep always turned into a night mare! The dates of history, labeling of diagrams and the equations of math used to attack him in the sleep.
Now, he is preparing to get under the skin of his own character slowly. It will take some time to be normal, but he doesn’t care! I'm taking my own sweet time, to play, read. I have inked down the exam, and now it is all over for at least 20 days! - He thought.
Recently, he has developed an interest to read Bengali stories. It was initiated by Khetu Bagchi, who is an interesting character by himself. He is the maternal uncle of Pintu’s Dad. Retired, Khetu Bagchi is blessed with academic capabilities and a very knowledgeable person. He often comes to Pintu and guides the lessons in a very interesting way, and that is a wonderful experience for Pintu.
Pintu is not that comfortable in reading Bengali scripts but this time he made it a point to practice it. Again, Khetu Dadu is responsible for! He once asked Pintu: - Do you know Tenida?
Nope! Said Pintu.
Crazy, I must say! Replied Dadu! If young lads like you don’t know Tenida, you will lose all funs of your life!
But, who is he?
Wait! Let me give you the description of him, ok?
Yap!
- Do you know Potoldanga, Pintu?
- No, said Pintu.
- Think Potoldanga and who comes to our mind? Who else but 'Tenida', leading an army of three with his war cry "de la Grande, Mephistopheles, yak, yak" - make of that what you will. Thanks to Narayan Gangopadhyay and his famous four, Potoldanga has secured its place in Bengali literature. And that is fitting, too, considering its proximity to the city's biggest book bazaar, College Street. Literary pursuit, though gradually losing out to the blaring television, is still alive in the lanes and by lanes of this Para. The rows of book stalls leading to one of the largest wholesale paper merchants at Baithakkhana road, the famous Mallikbari Durga Puja and the sense of history give these neighborhoods its unique ambience. With the Calcutta medical college on the western side and Keshab Chandra Sen Street and Bowbazar Street at two ends, the Para has been frequented by legendary personalities.
- Wao! Said Pintu, what a narration! But was he a real character?
- Well, he may not be a real character, but he represents the younger generation as a whole. The famous Bengali author Narayan Gangopadhyay created this fictional character, although the name Teni was the nick name of Narayan Gangopadhyay’s land lord Prabhat Mukherjee (with whom he was a very good friend.) at Potoldanga. If adda s were a fixture, so were the little food joints dotting the entire stretch. Some must-haves are mouth-watering sweets at Putiram, tea-and-toast at favorite cabin or the famous ghol and shorbot at Paramount, Paradise and Paragon. It is this combination of food-fun-books-music - in short, the quintessential Kolkata spirit - that has made Potoldanga the Para it is. 'De la grandee' to that! And, these were the basics that Narayan Gangopadhyay plotted to create TENIDA as a fictional native of Potoldanga.
A Bengali has two names. Bhalo naam (Good name or formal name) and Dak naam (nick name). Whenever a Bengali baby is born she/he is not immediately named with a Bhalo Naam. Till such time the Bhalo Naam is deliberated by the generous contributions from innumerable uncles-aunties, grandparents, neighbors, maids, and finally the Annaprasan ( First Rice taking ceremony ).Till such time a suitable Bhalo naam is being collated, analyzed and synthesized the Bengali baby is called by his nick names. Fundamentally, every Bengali boy is ‘babu’ or ‘khoka’ and girl is ‘khuki’ or ‘buri’ for the parents, so that’s the basic nick name any Bengali species would start with. It is to be understood that the nick names are more character oriented and deeply dipped in love; affection and creativity so mostly do not have any bearing with the real name whatsoever. It is also important to understand that the number of nicknames one Bengali baby has, is directly proportional to the number of relatives and neighbors its family keep good terms with. So one Bengali boy can be ‘babu’ to his mom, ‘babai’ to his dad, ‘dadusona’ to his grand dad but called ‘gola’ by his cousins.
So, Teni was the nick name of BHAJAHARI MUKHERJEE (Good name or formal name). This young lad was the leader of a group of four young lads who lived in the neighborhood of Potoldanga. Tenida was depicted as the local big-mouthed airhead with a heart of gold, who, although not blessed with academic capabilities, was admired and respected by the other three for his presence of mind, courage, and honesty as well as his vociferous appetite. Descriptions of Tenida's nose also make frequent appearances in the text, being described as "a large nose resembling Mount Mainak".
The narrator of the stories is Pyalaram, who seemed to share his leader's frailty in academic exertions. The other two characters who formed an integral part of the quartet were Habul Sen, who speaks with strong East Bengali accent (Dhakai) and Kyabla, the cleverest amongst the four.
Let me tell you those formal names. These names are listed, among other stories in the short novella in "Tenidar Abhijan" entitled "Charmurtir Abhijan":-Pyalaram: - Kamalesh Banerjee.
Kyabla: - Kushal Mitra.
Habul: - Swarnendu Sen
You should keep it in mind Pintu; all these characters were called in the nick names only in the stories. There was only one time mention of their formal names only in a novel. That was due to, the author Narayan Gangopadhyay probably wanted to let the readers know their formal names. Now, it is proved that, even in fiction Jatayu is more popular than Lalmohan Ganguli (the droll writer character in Satyajit Ray’s Feluda novels). Just try thinking what would have happened to these powerful characters without their nicknames Feluda (Pradosh. C. Miter), Ghanada (Ghanashyam Das)?
To be frank all these three DADAs of Bengali teen literature has reigned and still continuing. Author Narayan Gangopadhyay started this series with the nick names and it is still popular amongst the Bengali readers irrespective of their ages.
Khetu Dadu stopped for a while for a cup of filtered coffee brought by Mom. Pintu patiently waited for Dadu to sip out the coffee.
Dadu started:-
Pyalaram, the narrator of the stories, wrote from the point of view of the writer himself. He was a timid member and suffered from a chronic stomach ailment. His unfavorite food items appear to be potol diye singhi maacher jhol (fish curry) and bashok patar rosh (the juice of the Malabar nut leaf). Pyalaram followed in his Tenida's footsteps, having repeated his final year in school for two years before passing matriculation with the rest of the gang.
Kyabla is supposedly the most intelligent, smart and brave among them. Clever and the top among his classmates, this handsome and dapper young man is the backbone of this group. Tenida always looks up to Kyabla for finding solutions to tricky situations. Kyabla has solved all the mysteries in all the adventures that they have been to. He is the integral part of Tenida's gang. Ironically and laced with a touch of humor, the word Kyabla in Bengali literally means stupid.
Habul Sen's family hailed from East Bengal, a fact that is blatantly obvious by his strong Bangal accent characteristic of people from Eastern Bengal. Habul’s parents probably lived in Bikrampur in what is now Bangladesh before moving to Kolkata. Habul Sen stands out in having an independent character - he is timid but not as much as Pyalaram. He is also a very good student unlike Tenida and Pyalaram.
Dadu stopped. Pintu asked: - Where can I get these stories?
TENIDA SAMAGRA, Dadu answered! It is really a treasure!
Pintu is now free. He determined to read this series.
SOURCE and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:-
TENIDA SAMAGRA by Narayan Gangopadhyay
TIMES OF INDIA
WIKIPEDIA
INTERNET
Off’s!!! Pintu was really disgusted. He could not take his regular lunch and dinner properly. His vociferous appetite seemed to be in a low gear! Sleep always turned into a night mare! The dates of history, labeling of diagrams and the equations of math used to attack him in the sleep.
Now, he is preparing to get under the skin of his own character slowly. It will take some time to be normal, but he doesn’t care! I'm taking my own sweet time, to play, read. I have inked down the exam, and now it is all over for at least 20 days! - He thought.
Recently, he has developed an interest to read Bengali stories. It was initiated by Khetu Bagchi, who is an interesting character by himself. He is the maternal uncle of Pintu’s Dad. Retired, Khetu Bagchi is blessed with academic capabilities and a very knowledgeable person. He often comes to Pintu and guides the lessons in a very interesting way, and that is a wonderful experience for Pintu.
Pintu is not that comfortable in reading Bengali scripts but this time he made it a point to practice it. Again, Khetu Dadu is responsible for! He once asked Pintu: - Do you know Tenida?
Nope! Said Pintu.
Crazy, I must say! Replied Dadu! If young lads like you don’t know Tenida, you will lose all funs of your life!
But, who is he?
Wait! Let me give you the description of him, ok?
Yap!
- Do you know Potoldanga, Pintu?
- No, said Pintu.
- Think Potoldanga and who comes to our mind? Who else but 'Tenida', leading an army of three with his war cry "de la Grande, Mephistopheles, yak, yak" - make of that what you will. Thanks to Narayan Gangopadhyay and his famous four, Potoldanga has secured its place in Bengali literature. And that is fitting, too, considering its proximity to the city's biggest book bazaar, College Street. Literary pursuit, though gradually losing out to the blaring television, is still alive in the lanes and by lanes of this Para. The rows of book stalls leading to one of the largest wholesale paper merchants at Baithakkhana road, the famous Mallikbari Durga Puja and the sense of history give these neighborhoods its unique ambience. With the Calcutta medical college on the western side and Keshab Chandra Sen Street and Bowbazar Street at two ends, the Para has been frequented by legendary personalities.
- Wao! Said Pintu, what a narration! But was he a real character?
- Well, he may not be a real character, but he represents the younger generation as a whole. The famous Bengali author Narayan Gangopadhyay created this fictional character, although the name Teni was the nick name of Narayan Gangopadhyay’s land lord Prabhat Mukherjee (with whom he was a very good friend.) at Potoldanga. If adda s were a fixture, so were the little food joints dotting the entire stretch. Some must-haves are mouth-watering sweets at Putiram, tea-and-toast at favorite cabin or the famous ghol and shorbot at Paramount, Paradise and Paragon. It is this combination of food-fun-books-music - in short, the quintessential Kolkata spirit - that has made Potoldanga the Para it is. 'De la grandee' to that! And, these were the basics that Narayan Gangopadhyay plotted to create TENIDA as a fictional native of Potoldanga.
A Bengali has two names. Bhalo naam (Good name or formal name) and Dak naam (nick name). Whenever a Bengali baby is born she/he is not immediately named with a Bhalo Naam. Till such time the Bhalo Naam is deliberated by the generous contributions from innumerable uncles-aunties, grandparents, neighbors, maids, and finally the Annaprasan ( First Rice taking ceremony ).Till such time a suitable Bhalo naam is being collated, analyzed and synthesized the Bengali baby is called by his nick names. Fundamentally, every Bengali boy is ‘babu’ or ‘khoka’ and girl is ‘khuki’ or ‘buri’ for the parents, so that’s the basic nick name any Bengali species would start with. It is to be understood that the nick names are more character oriented and deeply dipped in love; affection and creativity so mostly do not have any bearing with the real name whatsoever. It is also important to understand that the number of nicknames one Bengali baby has, is directly proportional to the number of relatives and neighbors its family keep good terms with. So one Bengali boy can be ‘babu’ to his mom, ‘babai’ to his dad, ‘dadusona’ to his grand dad but called ‘gola’ by his cousins.
So, Teni was the nick name of BHAJAHARI MUKHERJEE (Good name or formal name). This young lad was the leader of a group of four young lads who lived in the neighborhood of Potoldanga. Tenida was depicted as the local big-mouthed airhead with a heart of gold, who, although not blessed with academic capabilities, was admired and respected by the other three for his presence of mind, courage, and honesty as well as his vociferous appetite. Descriptions of Tenida's nose also make frequent appearances in the text, being described as "a large nose resembling Mount Mainak".
The narrator of the stories is Pyalaram, who seemed to share his leader's frailty in academic exertions. The other two characters who formed an integral part of the quartet were Habul Sen, who speaks with strong East Bengali accent (Dhakai) and Kyabla, the cleverest amongst the four.
Let me tell you those formal names. These names are listed, among other stories in the short novella in "Tenidar Abhijan" entitled "Charmurtir Abhijan":-Pyalaram: - Kamalesh Banerjee.
Kyabla: - Kushal Mitra.
Habul: - Swarnendu Sen
You should keep it in mind Pintu; all these characters were called in the nick names only in the stories. There was only one time mention of their formal names only in a novel. That was due to, the author Narayan Gangopadhyay probably wanted to let the readers know their formal names. Now, it is proved that, even in fiction Jatayu is more popular than Lalmohan Ganguli (the droll writer character in Satyajit Ray’s Feluda novels). Just try thinking what would have happened to these powerful characters without their nicknames Feluda (Pradosh. C. Miter), Ghanada (Ghanashyam Das)?
To be frank all these three DADAs of Bengali teen literature has reigned and still continuing. Author Narayan Gangopadhyay started this series with the nick names and it is still popular amongst the Bengali readers irrespective of their ages.
Khetu Dadu stopped for a while for a cup of filtered coffee brought by Mom. Pintu patiently waited for Dadu to sip out the coffee.
Dadu started:-
Pyalaram, the narrator of the stories, wrote from the point of view of the writer himself. He was a timid member and suffered from a chronic stomach ailment. His unfavorite food items appear to be potol diye singhi maacher jhol (fish curry) and bashok patar rosh (the juice of the Malabar nut leaf). Pyalaram followed in his Tenida's footsteps, having repeated his final year in school for two years before passing matriculation with the rest of the gang.
Kyabla is supposedly the most intelligent, smart and brave among them. Clever and the top among his classmates, this handsome and dapper young man is the backbone of this group. Tenida always looks up to Kyabla for finding solutions to tricky situations. Kyabla has solved all the mysteries in all the adventures that they have been to. He is the integral part of Tenida's gang. Ironically and laced with a touch of humor, the word Kyabla in Bengali literally means stupid.
Habul Sen's family hailed from East Bengal, a fact that is blatantly obvious by his strong Bangal accent characteristic of people from Eastern Bengal. Habul’s parents probably lived in Bikrampur in what is now Bangladesh before moving to Kolkata. Habul Sen stands out in having an independent character - he is timid but not as much as Pyalaram. He is also a very good student unlike Tenida and Pyalaram.
Dadu stopped. Pintu asked: - Where can I get these stories?
TENIDA SAMAGRA, Dadu answered! It is really a treasure!
Pintu is now free. He determined to read this series.
SOURCE and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:-
TENIDA SAMAGRA by Narayan Gangopadhyay
TIMES OF INDIA
WIKIPEDIA
INTERNET
No comments:
Post a Comment