Another Dozen Stories

A classic keepsake edition, featuring twelve fascinating stories by a master storyteller Another Dozen Stories brings to you the magical, bizarre, spooky and sometimes astonishing worlds created by Satyajit Ray, featuring an extraordinary bunch of characters.

While 'The McKenzie Fruit' trails a humble man trying to leave his mark in history, 'Worthless' is a moving story about a seemingly hapless character who's not quite able to win the confidence of his family. Meet Professor Hijibijbij, the eccentric scientist bent on creating living replicas of peculiar creatures and follow Master Angshuman into a nail-biting and unexpected adventure on the sets of his very first film. Also included is 'The First-Class Compartment', a tale of a terrifying encounter with an unruly British soldier, in the middle of the night, in a train coach belonging to the year 1932. This collection includes twelve hair-raising stories that will leave you asking for more!

Translated for the very first time into English by noted translator Indrani Majumdar, this edition is a tribute to Ray's immaculate literary genius and a gift for his many fans and followers on the centenary of his birth.

I was a young adolescent when Manik Da cast me in Apur Sansar and a year later in Debi. I have seen him engage with children, absorbing their every word, answering their every question, putting them at ease. It has been a fascinating experience.

Over the decades, I saw him creating some of the most captivating children's characters in cinema-Apu and Durga, Kajol, Ratan and Pikoo. His own sense of wonder and curiosity at the world around him reflected through these characters and in the stories he created for children. His complete understanding of a child's mindset, his ability to look at the world through the eyes of a child, was a rare gift he inherited from his family. His grandfather Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and his father Sukumar Ray were popular writers of children's books. In Bengal, their works are still seen as milestones in the history of children's literature. Manik-da carried this legacy forward, he revived the magazine, Sandesh, and added many more entertaining stories that appealed to children and to young adolescents.

He understood children's psyche, their inherent love for mystery and enchantment with the magical and sci-fi. In the process, he created two of the most enduring characters for young readers, Feluda and Professor Shonku.

It is such a joy to be able to revisit some of Manik-da's most memorable works in this genre. The stories translated by Indrani Majumdar highlight everything we have come to love and admire about Manik-da's multifaceted creativity. It's all here-the element of the unexpected, a hint of the supernatural, a whiff of the macabre with a generous measure of humour. This is a collection that makes me want to curl up in my bed with a pleasurable anticipation and let my imagination soar to the power of these timeless tales.

This is a befitting tribute to the master on his 100th anniversary.

**Contents and Sample Pages**