Sukumar Ray

---

The Government of West Bengal and

Satyajit Ray Productions Present.

SUKUMAR RAY:

Saumitra Chatterjee, Utpal Dutt,

Santosh Dutt & others.

Cinematography:
Barun Raha,

Art:
Ashok Bose; Editing: Dulal Dutt.

Narration:
Saumitra Chattopadhyay

Songs:
Anup Ghoshal & Chorus.

Screenplay, Music & Direction:

Satyajit Ray.

There are few Bengalis

unfamiliar with these pictures.

They are from two wonderful books

and a great short story.

The books are 'Abol Tabol' (The Ridiculous)

and 'Haw-Jaw-Baw-Raw-Law' (Absurdity)

and the story

'The Diary of Heshoram the Clever'

The Author:
Sukumar Ray

He was born 100 years ago.

His father was

Upendra Kishore Ray Chowdhury.

Upendra was the adopted son of

Hari Krishna Roy Chowdhury.

Before adoption he was known as Kamada

Ranjan and was the Second of 5 brothers.

The brothers were all gifted.

They were Sharada Ranjan, then Kamada Ranjan (Upendra)

followed by Muktida Ranjan, Kulada Ranjan & Pramada Ranjan.

Sarada Ranjan taught Mathematics & Sanskrit

His books were used as Textbooks.

He was the principal of Metropolitan College

and the best known cricketer of his time.

Upendra was a noted printer and publisher

He was also a painter, a scientist...

a writer of children's fiction

and a musician.

He was the only Indian to regulalrly publish

in 'Penrose Annual' - on printing technology.

Mukti Ranjan, also a mathematician and a

sportsman, also taught in Metropolitan College.

Kulada Ranjan also played Cricket

and was known for his translations...

of children's classics

from around the world.

Pramada Ranjan served in the office

of the Surveyor General of India.

He wrote about his experiences in a book

called 'Baner Khabar' - Jungle Stories.

Of the 5 brothers 2 were traditional Hindus Upendra,

Kulada and Pramada belonged to the reformist BRAHMO SAMAJ.

Despite the social boycott of the Brahmo Samaj The

relations between the brothers was always cordial.

Upendra Kishore married Bidhumukhi, the

daughter of a leading Brahmo Samaj member

and started living at

13, Cornwallis Street in Calcutta.

They had six children

The second was Sukumar Ray.

Sukumar graduated with Honours in both Physics

and Chemistry from Presidency College Calcutta.

When in College Sukumar established

a group called Nonsense Club.

They published a handwritten magazine on humour

called the "Thity two and a half fries".

It was here that he published

his first humourous poetry

and his famous nonsenseplay

'Jhala Pala' (Cacophony)

Here is a sequencefrom Jhalapala: Asked to

explain the meaning of 'I go up, we go down'

The teacher says: I stands for the 'eye' go = cow (Bengali

phonetic equivalent) Up means water (Bengali phonetic equivalent)

so 'I go up' means "The cow's eyes

water" or "the cow is crying"

the next part tells us why.

"We go down."

We means termites

(Bengali phonetic equivalent)

and 'go down' means godown or a warehouse.

So 'I Go UP, We Go Down' means The cow is crying

because termites have destroyed the warehouse.

Another play was 'Laxmaner Shaktishel' (The magic

spear of Laxman) a spoof based on the Ramayan.

Rama and his army have invaded Lanka

the kingdom of Ravana the powerful king.

They are about to meet

Ravana in the field of battle.

Rama:
Last night I had a beautiful dream.

I dreamt that Ravana had climbed a tree.

He climbed to the top, his foot slipped

and he fell to the ground unconscious.

Then Ravana must be really dead

The king's dream cannot be wrong

cannot be - will not be - can never be.

I told Hanuman to

throw the body in the sea.

Hanuman said it was unnecessary

Ravana is totally dead.

Totally Dead? Then lets enjoy.

But.. But.. There's Ravana's Chariot

And there's Ravana!

Really! That means Ravana is

not dead? He must have 9 lives!

Its all the fault of Hanuman

Why didn't he throw the body into the sea?

Now its like trying to shut the

barn door after the horse has bolted.

Here's our spy

Tell us all the news.

Sir, I've just arrived.

Wonderful!

Is that all you can tell us?

You've just arrived!

Whats so great about that?

Tell us what happened today

In details.

Sir, I got up in the morning, bathed

had some rice and vegetables and went out..

I had pumpkin even though the astrologers

said eating pumpkin is not advised today.

You see my pumpkin had started rotting!

Stop talking nonsense!

Talk about business.

Well, I ate, slept for a couple of hours

and went out.

Saw that drums were rolling!

Like this:
Dha Ra Ra Ra Ra Ra...

This guy is repeating 'Dha Ra ra ra ra'

like a recurring decimal!

Are you going to tell us what you saw sequentially,

serially, step by step, chronologically?

Yes tell us everything..

What next?

Ravana is coming, with great pomp

Drums are beating and its very noisy.

What next? What next?...What next?

Drums are beating, cymbals clashing,

The clash of arms is deafening..

What next? What next?...What next?

Thousands of soldiers

Flags are flying.

What next? What next?...What next?

They are thumping their breasts

The earth is shaking under their feet.

What next? What next?...What next?

They put the fear of god in me,

my heart started beating faster.

What next? What next?...What next?

None of you will survive this day..

You'll all die in droves..

In 1895 Upendra Kishore set up a

printing press called 'U.Ray & Sons'

Upendra Kishore hadn't been abroad, but sent Sukumar

to England to study printing & photography.

In 1911, Sukumar went to England

on a fellowship. He was 23 then.

In London he studied for a year in the London County

Council School of photoengraving & Lithography.

He then studied

Chromolithography and litho-drawing

at the

Municipal School of Technology, Manchester.

His correspondence tells us that his tutelage

under Upendra Kishore was of great help.

This was the time (1912) when

Rabindranath Tagore also went to England

with his translation of "Gitanjali" (Tagore

was to win the Nobel Prize for 'Gitanjali')

Sukumar Ray was one of the

first to welcome him there.

Sukumar wrote an article in 'QUEST'

introducing Tagore to the West.

Sukumar returned to India in October 1913 He

had passed his examinations with distinction.

Two months later he married Suprabha.

In summer of 1913, Upendra Kishore started

publishing a children's magazine called SANDESH.

Earlier he had published children's versions

of The Mahabharata and The Ramayana

and the 'Book of the Toontooni Bird'

A collection of folk tales of Bengal.

In 1914, the family shifted to

a new house at 100, Garpar Road.

His printing press was in the front and

living quarters at the back, facing south.

Sadly, he died just two years

after SANDESH was first published.

But in these two years

SANDESH had become a premium magazine.

The quality of printing in SANDESH

was unsurpassed in its time.

Sukumar took over where

his father had left SANDESH.

His first poem for SANDESH was called Khichudi (Kedgeree/mixture) later

included in his famous collection 'Abol Tabol' (The Ridiculous).

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