바카라Bhoy Peyona, Bhoy Peyona,Tomay Ami Marbo Na
Sotyi Bolchhi Kusti Korey Tomar Songe Parbo na.
Monta Amar Boddo Norom, Harey Amar Raag Ti Nei
Tomay Ami Chibiye Khabo, Emon Amar Sadhyi Nei!바카라
These are the first four lines of the poem titled Bhoy Peyona (don바카라t be afraid). Loosely translated to English, it means, 바카라Don't be afraid, I am not going to hurt you/Believe me, I can't win at wrestling with you/ I assure you I am too soft hearted, there's not an ounce of anger in me/ Chewing you up is out of the question for me.바카라
Then, when the addressee shows no sign of trust despite further pursuations and pleading, comes the threat in the last four lines.
Abhoy Dichchhi, Sunchho na je! Dhorbo Naki Thayang Duta?
Bosley Tomar Mundu Chepe Bujhbe Tokhon Kando Ta
Ami Achhi, Ginni Achhen, Achhen Amar Noy Chhele
Sobai Miley Kamre Debo Mithye Omon Bhoy Pele
바카라Still not convinced, eh? How about I tie your feet down?/ Don't make me mad or I'll sit tight on your head!/ Be warned바카라 I have my wife, my nine sons along with me/All of us are going to bite you together if you insist on being foolish.바카라
This is perhaps one of the most popular poems in elocution competitions for children that are held in different parts of Bengal every year as part of cultural contests. As a child growing up in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, I had great fun practicing its rendition before participating in such contests. As a grown-up, though, I rediscovered the poem in the context of 바카라power바카라 and its behaviour, the 바카라carrot and stick policy바카라 for an example.
I am no exception. The writings of Sukumar Ray (1887-1923), early-twentieth century literary genius whose son, Satyajit, later became famous as a filmmaker, are usually introduced to one when she or he is a child. It can safely be said that there will be very few persons who have first read Ray as an adult. Children have fun, roll on the floor laughing while going through the nonsensical descriptions in Ray바카라s poems, stories and plays. In Calcutta바카라s flagship annual book fair, parents are coming out of children바카라s bookstores with Ray바카라s collected works or the poetry book, Abol Tabol, is still a common site.
Once grown up, Ray바카라s world might look closer to an Orwellian or Kafkaesque one.
In the poem Baburam Sapurey, Baburam, the snakecharmer, is requested to fetch a couple of harmless snakes so that they could be thrashed with a stick. The snakes had to be absolutely harmless. In Abak Jalpan, a play that children often stage at cultural events in their neighbourhood, a very thirsty man keeps asking one person after another where he can get some water to drink but everyone responds by telling a dozen irrelevant things except the answering what the man asked.
Take, for example, the poem Ekushe Ain, a coinage that has earned a proverbial stature to describe flawed laws.
바카라Shib Thakur-er Apon Deshe
Ain Kanun Sorboneshe
Keu Jodi Jay Pichhle Porey
Pyayda Ese Pakre Dhorey
Kajir Kachhe Hoy Bichar
Ekush Taka Dondo Tar.바카라
It says, in Lord Shiva바카라s own land, the laws are catastrophic, as people are arrested for slipping, are produced before a qazi and punished with a fine of Rs 21. A subsequent stanza says that the people who write in rhyme are put in cages, forced to listen to multiplication tables and made to calculate 21 pages of grocery expenses.
When Ray was writing these pieces during the last leg of the second decade and the beginning of the third decade of the twentieth century, they were conceived as nonsense. Afterwards, these pieces were discovered as socio-political commentaries, sometimes described as 바카라wicked satire바카라.
바카라To me, he is the one who introduced the absurd in Bengali literature. The world I met in Ray바카라s works returned when I read Albert Camus바카라 The Myth of the Sisyphus or Samuel Beckett바카라s Waiting for Godot,바카라 said sexagenarian Bengali short story writer Tapankar Bhattacharya. 바카라Remember, Ray predated Camus and Beckett.바카라
Bhattacharya had introduced his son, Samya, to Ray바카라s writings at a tender age. 바카라When I used to read him up Ray바카라s rhymes, he enjoyed them from a different perspective and I from another,바카라 Bhattacharya said.
Another coinage that has earned a proverbial usage is Khuror Kol, the title of a poem which can be described as the uncle바카라s contraptions. There was an accompanying illustration by Ray himself that helps a reader understand the invention better. The machine was fastened to the shoulder of a man and had food dangling in front. However much one may chase the food, it can never be reached.
According to film and literature critic Sanjoy Mukhopadhyay, Sukumar Ray바카라s arrival in Indian literature is inexplicable and that he had no predecessor.
바카라At his time, literature, not only in Bengal but also globally, was governed by reason. They believed that nothing on earth existed which cannot be reasoned by reason. Ray introduced the logic of the irrational. Even the Surrealist movement started in 1924. But Ray had written hajabarala by 1921-22. It바카라s a surreal, absurd world, where nothing could be explained by reason,바카라 Mukhopadhyay said.
Hajabarala, a story, begins with a cat turning into a handkerchief and ends with an absurd trial ending with the judge, an owl, ordering 30 days in jail and seven days of 바카라fansi바카라 or death by hanging.
Even though Ray바카라s volume of work is quite thin given his short life of 36 years - everything can be compiled between two covers - there would be no dearth of examples.
Physics research scholar Abhik Banerjee is often reminded of the scene from hajabarala where the judge is seen sleeping, but when pointed out, he refutes and insists that he only had his eyes closed. 바카라Scenes from hajabarala are perfect for political parodies or satires and would perfectly reflect the present times,바카라 said Banerjee, who also has a knack for theatre.
Looking at political alliances that he thinks were inconceivable, such as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)바카라s alliance with the Jammu and Kashmir People바카라s Democratic Party, or that of the Congress with Shiv Sena, Banerjee is reminded of the poem titled Khichuri, or khichdi, which describes creatures like Bakachchhap (a mix of heron and turtle) and Hansjaru (a mix of duck and porcupine). The poem ends with:
Singher Sing Nei, Ei Tar Koshto
Horiner Sathe Miley, Singh Holo Sposhto
The lion is pained for not having horns/Merger with deer gave him the horns.
Ray self-illustrated his poems. His works have frequently been compared with the writings of Lewis Carroll (1932-1898) and the art of Edward Lear (1812-1888), with whose works Ray was acquainted.
The trend of introducing children to Ray works continues. Journalist Avijit Ghosal, whose son, Abhinandan, is eight and a half years old, gave his son Ray바카라s collected works as the first Bengali book. Now studying in class 3 at an English medium school, Abhinandan has a poem by Ray in his Bengali syllabus. But he actually read his works before school.
바카라I enjoy reading it as much as he enjoys reading it. There are many lines and imageries from his work that I am frequently reminded of seeing today바카라s socio-cultural and political developments,바카라 said Ghosal, now in his 50s, who too had first read Ray in his early school days. 바카라Every child has to read these as an adult,바카라 he said.
During 2019 and 2020, when the BJP바카라s and the Hindutva camp바카라s principle slogan, Jai Shree Ram, were gaining popularity in West Bengal, it alarmed a section of those who can loosely be described as 바카라secular-liberals바카라. They brought forth in their social media discussions several images and scenes from Lakshmaner Shaktishel, a play which can be described as a humorous adaptation of a scene from Ramayana. They placed it in the context of intolerance, arguing that the iconic stature of this play shows how the Bengali society had always accepted making fun of deities (such as Ram and Hanuman here) as integral to the culture.
