by Satyajit Ray
The Shonku stories first appeared in 1961 in Sandesh, a magazine for children that had been started by Satyajit Ray’s grandfather, Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury, in 1913. In 1916, it was taken over by his father, Sukumar, and in 1961, revived by Ray himself. In all, Ray wrote and published forty adventures—the last two appearing only as incomplete drafts. Out of these, eighteen were written for the annual editions of, Anandamela, another popular children’s magazine. Ray continued to write and captivate us with the Shonku escapades for the next thirty-odd years. I still remember waiting with bated breath for the latest issue of Sandesh to appear at our doorstep, especially as the adventure was often serialized. And much of the excitement of the Durga Puja festival lay in devouring a fresh new Shonku story in the annual Aanadamela with colour illustrations adding to the appeal of every story.
How did Ray’s interest in science begin? In the author’s own words: ‘In my own case, it happened at the age of ten when my grand-uncle Kuladaranjan Ray’s splendid translation of Jules Verne’s Mysterious Island came out in two yellow volumes. I was enthralled then as I’m now by Verne’s power to grip and persuade by abundance of convincing details… An interest in science was always there. After all, my father (Sukumar) and grandfather Upendrakishore were both men of science, in addition to being writers and artists.’
In an interesting article written in 1966, Ray cogently defines two schools of science fiction writing—one of Jules Verne and the other H.G. Wells. Ray believed, ‘Wells’s approach to science fiction was poetic and romantic. Wells chose in his science fiction to skirt technology and concentrate on fiction…’ While Jules Verne uses ‘the available scientific data as the springboard, but never lets the imagination soar beyond the limits of probability.’ It’s clearly evident that Ray’s Shonku adventures belong more to Wells’s school of writing, culminating in what we today call sci-fi fantasy.
Prof. Shonku lives in Giridih, a cozy town in Jharkhand, but each and every one of his adventures takes him all over the world. Thus the globetrotting Shonku takes us to Austria and Switzerland to unravel the mystery of Dr Schering’s loss of memory; to an ancient castle in Norway to free himself from the clutches of the terrifying personality of Alexander Craig; and to Innsbruck to confront a daring doppelgänger. Prof. Shonku also lands up in Montefrio in Granada to undertake an incredible experiment to create pure gold and travels to an unknown island in the Atlantic Ocean to look for an amazing fruit following a clue left behind in a diary! What is the message in the mysterious papyrus found in Cairo and why did scientists go missing in the deep jungle of Congo? Is there any truth in the reported sightings of the UFO and what happens when he takes along an extraordinary animal to Koblenz in Germany?
His neighbour, companion and dispassionate friend, Avinash Babu, once appears in this collection of stories and Prof. Shonku is often accompanied on his sojourns by old friends we have met before—his colleagues Saunders, Crole and Summerville, Nakur Chandra Biswas—the man with the uncanny power of predicting the future, his trusted servant Prahlad and his feline friend, Newton.
These stories offer a reader not just the suspense, thrill and excitement of the mysteries: they present a wonderful travelogue across the world and the opportunity to study the scheming and devious minds of people in the garb of scientists, businessmen and ordinary people. They take the reader to faraway yet imaginary lands while reiterating the eternal human values and emphasizing right from wrong.
It’s interesting to note that Ray manages to give such accurate and graphic description of these countries and their cities and as well as their life and culture at a time when Google, Wikipedia or Google Maps was essentially the material for science fiction! How did he do it?
Ray’s work is indeed a culmination of both hard work and research. He took the trouble to write to all the friends who lived in these distant cities he was planning to make Prof. Shonku visit and talked to the local consulates and embassy officials for authentic information. He also procured maps, postcards and brochures of all these cities. And the net result was not only an authentic description of these places but those striking illustrations done by him, often adopting a new style to describe each adventure. The end result is just magic.
Another charming highlight of these stories is that they all seem to be wrapped up in a distinct time warp. Generally, for communications across the world, the professor only depends on handwritten letters and for urgency it was always the telegram. Public telephones are frequently used and even in a hotel in a city like Innsbruck guests had to share a common telephone kept out in a corridor. For checking on facts and gathering information Shonku faithfully delves into the ever dependable Encyclopaedia Britannica. A few modern contraptions cited are a tape recorder and photocopy machine! Yet Shonku’s own ingenious discoveries mentioned in these adventures will continue to marvel each reader. Inventions like the Remembrain, Annihilin, Miracurol pills, Nervigour, Omniscope remain a mystery and a matter of envy to the scientific fraternity, even today.
Ray, throughout these stories, instills great value and faith in the world of science and objectivity. However, children will be fascinated to observe that Ray’s interest in the field of fortune tellers, planchettes, oracles, clairvoyance, telepathy, past regression, hypnotism, and revocation of angry souls also find a place of pride in the plots of these adventures. In his tales Ray also imparts the notion of patriotism—all told very gently, not once sounding didactic. References of Tagore’s Geetanjali and the Taj Mahal are bound to touch a chord indeed. Another facet to these stories is mention of various personalities such as Oral Stein, Tavernier and Jabir ibn Hayyan who are sure to intrigue the young reader to discover more.
Will today’s children be able to appreciate these old-time scientific impressions? Will this prolific professor become as credible as the precocious Potter? Let the young readers decide. All the same I’m sure each episode of the Shonku escapades will enchant all readers of this volume. And perhaps inspire some children to pick up a pen and start writing a diary!
Puffin has agreed to use some of Ray’s original drawings in this collection. I am grateful to Sandip Ray not just for granting the permission to use his father’s illustrations but also for sending me the scanned images of these drawings. My thanks also go to Souradeep, Satyajit Ray’s grandson. I’m grateful to my brother, Jyotirmoy Majumdar, for looking into my initial drafts and correcting and fine-tuning all the technical and scientific language used in the stories. And my thanks of course go to my editors Renu Rao and Mimi Basu for polishing up my translation considerably.
This will be the third collection of Shonku adventures produced by Puffin. The last two volumes were translated by my sister Gopa Majumdar, whose flair for translation will always remain an inspiration to me.
Indrani Majumdar lives in Delhi but has her roots firmly based in Bengali culture. Her bilingualism has helped her career as she has translated Bengali texts into English and vice versa. A keen researcher, her vocation in life has been to explore the various facets of Satyajit Ray’s work. At present she works with the Programme Office, India International Centre, Delhi.
PUFFIN CLASSICS
The Mystery Of Munroe Island and Other Stories
With Puffin Classics, the story isn’t over when you reach the final page. Want to discover more about the author and his world? Read on . . .
CONTENTS
AUTHOR FILE
SHONKU FACT FILE
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
AUTHOR FILE
NAME: Satyajit Ray
BORN: 2 May 1921 in a progressive Brahmo family of Kolkata
FATHER: Sukumar Ray
Famous writer, poet and printing technologist
MOTHER: Suprabha Ray
QUALIFICATIONS: B.A. in Economics (Hons) from Presidency
College, Kolkata. Trained in Oriental Arts for three years at Vishwa Bharati University.
PROFESSIONAL LIFE: Worked in the advertising agency DJ Keymer for almost twelve years.
Started as a Junior Visualizer and went on to become the Art Director.
MARRIED TO: Bijoya Ray
CHILDREN: One son, Sandip Ray, also a film-maker.
FAMOUS FOR: Internationally acclaimed films. One of the earliest Indian directors to have won prizes at major film festivals around the world like Cannes, Venice, Berlin, London and San Francisco. An extremely versatile person, he wrote the script, composed the music, designed the sets and costumes, prepared posters in addition to directing the films.
Ray was also a writer of repute, and his short stories, novellas, poems and articles, written in Bengali, are still immensely popular. Many of his books became bestsellers. He also illustrated them.
MAJOR AWARDS: Bharat Ratna, highest civilian award of India;
Legion D’Honneur, highest civilian award of France; and the Oscar for Lifetime Achievement
SHONKU FACT FILE
FULL NAME: Trilokeshwar Shonku In Bengali, Shonku means a cone. Trilokeshwar means the ‘lord of heaven, earth and hell’. It is also a play on the name Trishanku, a mythical figure who tried to reach the heavens but was punished by the gods to forever remain stranded somewhere between heaven and earth.
BIRTHDAY: 16 June. Birth year estimated to be 1912
QUALIFICATIONS: B.Sc. in Physics and Chemistry. A child prodigy, he graduated from college when he was sixteen. Honorary doctorate from the Swedish Academy of Sciences
HOMETOWN: Giridih
PET: Cat called Newton
MANSERVANT: Prahlad
NEIGHBOUR: Avinash Babu
FRIENDS: William Crole Jeremy Saunders
How did Professor Shonku come to be?
The first book in which Prof. Shonku appeared was simply called Professor Shonku. Published in 1965, it was Ray’s first book, though the stories had been written between 1961 and 1965. Professor Shonku was dedicated to Ray’s son, Sandip, who was eleven years old then. The inscription in the original book read ‘To Sandip Babu’. (Sandip’s pet name is Babu.) This was the only time Ray dedicated any of his books. One of the earliest examples of science-fiction writing in any Indian language, this book won the Government of India’s prize for Best Book for the Young.
THINGS TO THINK ABOUT
Travel Trails
Professor Shonku is an avid traveller. His adventures become more exciting on account of their exotic locations. Here are some fun facts about the places Shonku has travelled to.
Read on. Maybe they will excite the traveller in you.
Switzerland
There are more banks than dentists in Switzerland.
Norway
There is a town called Hell and it freezes almost every winter.
England
In Medieval England animals were brought into court, and tried and sentenced by the judge for any mischief or damage they did!
Egypt
Ancient Egyptians shaved off their eyebrows to mourn the death of their cats.
Congo
The maximum population of these rainforests consists of pygmies.
China
Chinese police use geese instead of dogs because of their aggressiveness and superior vision.
Austria
The first postcard was used in Austria.
Germany
German don’t sing their whole national anthem.
Atlantic Ocean
Due to the shift in the tectonic plates, the Atlantic will replace the Pacific as the largest ocean in the next few hundreds of years.
Innovational Idiosyncrasies
Professor Shonku’s inventions have set extremely high standards for scientists all across the world. Here is a complete list of his inventions that will leave you awestruck and convinced of our beloved professor’s incomparable genius:
Innovation Description
Bidhushekhar A rather comic robot, capable of inexplicably brilliant stuff
Mangorange A hybrid fruit of mango and orange—tastes a bit of both
Invisibility Potion A liquid version of Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloak!
Microsonograph Device to record every tiny sound made in the world
Air-conditioning pill A pill to keep in your pocket, which keeps you comfortable irrespective of the temperature
Electric pistol Pistol to deliver an electric shock of 400 volts
Somnolin Super-effective sleeping pill
Neospectroscope Device to summon ghosts of the departed
Miracurol Pill to miraculously cure all diseases
Room freshener Natural fragrances of thirty-six flowers
Onmiscope Telescope + Microscope+ X-ray in a device that looks like a pair of normal spectacles
Ornithon Device to impart knowledge to birds
Annihilin gun A gun to make anything disappear
Remembrain A helmet that helps you remember old or forgotten memories
Cerebrilliant Nerve-soothing pill that helps recover quickly from head injuries
Shankalan Extremely strong yet light plastic
In Shonku’s Shoes
Would you want to become our professor’s comrade? Professor Shonku gives you an opportunity to invent some of your own weapons and machines that will help him in his future adventures. Sketch your masterpiece machine in the space given below:
Read More in Puffin Classics
The Diary of a Space Traveller and other Stories
Satyajit Ray
It all began with the fall of a meteorite and the crater it made. In its centre was a red notebook, sticking out of the ground—the first (or was it really the last?) of Professor Shonku’s diaries.
Professor Trilokeshwar Shonku, eccentric genius and scientist, disappeared without a trace after he shot off into space in a rocket from his backyard in Giridih, accompanied by his loyal but not-too-intelligent servant, Prahlad, his cat, Newton, and Bidhushekhar, his robot with an attitude.
What has become of the professor? Has he decided to stay on in Mars, his original destination? Or has he found his way to some other planet and living there with strange companions? His last diary tells an incredible story . . . Other diaries unearthed from his abandoned laboratory reveal stranger and even more exciting adventures involving a ferocious sadhu, a revengeful mummy and a mad scientist in Norway who turns famous men into six-inch statues.
Exciting, imaginative and funny, the stories in this collection capture the sheer magic of Ray’s lucid language, elegant style, graphic descriptions and absurd humour. The indomitable Professor Shonku has returned, to win himself over a whole new band of followers!
* That dratted space traveller and his cat
THE BEGINNING
Let the conversation begin…
Follow the Penguin Twitter.com@PenguinIndia
Keep up-to-date with all our stories Youtube.com/PenguinIndia
Like ‘Penguin Books’ on Facebook.com/PenguinIndia
Find out more about the author and
discover more stories like this at Penguinbooksindia.com
PUFFIN BOOKS
UK | Canada | Ireland | Australia
New Zealand | India | South Africa
Penguin Books is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.
This collection published 2015
Copyright © The Estate of Satyajit Ray, 2015
The moral right of the author has been asserted
ISBN: 978-0-143-33328-9
This digital edition published in 2015.
e-ISBN: 978-9-352-14122-7
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.