It is an anthology of twelve short stories of Parashuram (Rajsekhar Basu), translated in English from the original Bengali version; the stories have been chosen from his different collections of short stories, written over a period of almost forty years. Parashuram was a versatile author, a scholar, a chemist, an entrepreneur and a creative genius. The short stories, we have anthologized here, are unique in character.
Parashuram was adept in making his stories funny and witty at the same time and he was no less an expert in using satire as a tool of social criticism. Readers, it is hoped, will enjoy these stories.
We have added to this volume a fairly comprehensive 'Introduction' which discusses Prashuram's life and works and highlights the novelty of his short stories.
Dr Pradip Ranjan Sengupta taught English literature to students of Undergraduate and Postgraduate classes for decades. He is, at present, Honorary Professor of English at Adamas University, & Guest Faculty at Sarojini Naidu College (PG Unit).
He is an author, a creative writer, translator and a film maker. His recent work of translation is Whimsical Nonsense, a translated version of Abol Tabol, a unique creation of the great Bengali poet and litterateur Sukumar Roy.
The Short Story in Bengali literature is quite formidable both in variety and in quality and among all great writers of Bengali short stories, Parashuram definitely has an important place. My fascination for Parashuram or Rajshekhar Basu significantly escalated from 1983 when the first volume of his complete works was gifted to me by two of my most intimate friends Sri Satyaban Ray and Sri Prabir Basu and in the very next year Prabir gifted the second volume as well. I got an easy access to most of his short stories; my fascination for his stories grew so much that I immediately bought the third volume of his works and as I read and re-read Parashuram's stories I felt that I might try in my humble way to share my delight with those lovers of literature who do not know Bengali from then the idea of translating some of his short stories developed in my mind.
Sixty tears have already elapsed since Parashuram's death (1960) and now, I thought, I might start my venture.
I must thank my wife Suchandra who always willingly exempts me from day to day work, necessary to run a family. Without her indulgence I wouldn't have done this work.
My younger daughter Paulami has always been unfailing in helping me whenever I sought her help to solve digital problems and often I read parts of my translation to her. My blessings to her!
My elder daughter Pallabi herself is a novelist and a short story writer; she and Sri Abhisek (my son-in-law) alwayssupport me both passively and actively. I bless them. I have a long relationship with Anjan Babu and Avenel press and I thank Mr. Anjan Saha and all others who are connected with the publication of this book.
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