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A Study in Bibliophilic Journey – Part 2

A Study in Bibliophilic Journey – Part 2

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The Shiva Trilogu and Noddy books

Any author with their writings can and do play a significant part in our growth and stay influencers for our lifetimes. In the second part of the series, writer Saptarshi Chowdhury expresses his point again

Reading is a fascinating pastime because unlike other pastimes, it can help you procrastinate and make you feel superior simultaneously. Now, I understand how controversial the above statement can become, but what’s a reader, if not controversial? In the previous part, I believe I was quite fair to some authors and very unfair to some. It’s time for compensation! Anant Pai, J.K. Rowling, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle found memorable mentions but this part is going to be a deep sea of nostalgia.

Enid Blyton. I am sorry but if you claim yourself to be a Bibliophile and are unaware of her, you must work upon your reading taste! This prolific writer from the United Kingdom has blessed us with works such as “The Famous Five”, “The Adventurous Four”, “The Secret Seven”, “Noddy”, “Malory Towers”, and so much more. There are very few authors who make you feel comfortable and Enid is among those few. Her books, which are mostly based on the themes of a strongly bonded family, have stayed with me for my entire lifetime. To summarize her influence on young readers and I speak for myself, I grew up pleading to become a companion to Noddy in Toyland someday; fought tears to convince myself that Julian, Dick, Anne, George and Tommy are fictional and I can probably never become the ‘Sixth’ member, and controlled my annoyance each and every time I would be forced to not read Enid’s books because apparently they are for children. However, I swear upon the password of “The Secret Seven” that I will never discourage a reader from experiencing the works of Enid Blyton, because she is not just angel-in-disguise, she is the angel!

By the time, I was done with these authors, I had grown up as a human being and started also behaving like a stereotypical Gen-Z. However, that did not hinder me as a bibliophile. Mythology has never been my forte but it never fails to fascinate me. I was already done with various versions of Valmiki’s “Ramayana” and Ved Vyas’ “Mahabharata” and I needed something out-of-the-box to help me develop my reading skills as well as learn mythology. And for that, I am grateful to Amish Tripathi for his outstanding book series on Lord Shiva. “The Immortals of Mehula”, “The Secret of the Nagas”, “The Oath of the Vayuputras” are groundbreaking works in terms of a topic that is highly difficult to work upon. However Amish, through all his books, made the journey of Lord Shiva so different yet so familiar that it immediately caught my attention and I can proudly say that among all the Indian authors, I have read his books the most.

Being a Bengali, Satyajit Ray was not a name unknown to me. I had watched his movies and had heard of his books. However, I was skeptical of reading them because I thought they might just be another rip-off of Sherlock Holmes. Oh, how wrong was I! “Adventures of Feluda” will forever remain my read-of-the-century. Such beautiful storytelling, such wonderful stories, and such amazing characters: Satyajit Ray was beyond the literal meaning of the word genius. One thing that bugs me about Feluda is his ending, and I truly wanted his stories to have a good ending and not end on an abrupt pace. Other than that, I still solve mysteries and visit numerous places with our very own trio of Feluda, Topshe and Lalmohan Babu.

Felu Da books

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তারাশঙ্কর বন্দ্যোপাধ্যায়

I hope I have done justice to few authors in this part but don’t be disappointed, this is not the ending, which again makes me wonder: Can there be an ending? Let’s hope for the best and prepare for the worst, in that case. For now, I again pay my regards and utmost respect to Enid Blyton, Amish Tripathi and Satyajit Ray and the plethora of authors that have made me into a bibliophile.

To be continued

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