চাঁদের পাহাড় (The Mountain Of The Moon) : Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay

◆চাঁদের পাহাড়  (The Mountain Of The Moon)

◆Author-Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay |

◆Published in- 1937. 

◆Genre -Adventure novel

◆Format-Hardcover

◆Language -Bengali

Chander Pahar (Bengali: চাঁদের পাহাড়, English: Mountain of the Moon) is a Bengali adventure novel written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay and published in 1937

◆The works of  Bibhutibhushan Bandhopadhyay may not be as widely, or regularly, translated into English but his literary reputation has been strengthened by several film adaptations. Two of his novels form the premise of Satyajit Ray’s much acclaimed Apu Trilogy, made in the

◆ 1950s. More recently, in 2013, his popular children’s novel, Chander Pahar (literally, the mountain of the moon), was turned into perhaps the most expensive Bengali film ever made...

◆In Moon Mountain, the protagonist, Shankar, is a middle-class Bengali boy living in a village in 1909, five years before the Great War, and at a crossroad. Just out of college, he is expected by his family—an affectionate mother and ailing father—to get employed and take on more responsibilities. But Shankar, a feisty athlete with the spirit of an adventurer, despairs at the thought of settling into a dreary job at the local jute mill. His heart is full of wanderlust and he wants to venture into the wilds of Africa.

◆Shankar gets lucky when a neighbour helps him get a job with a company laying railway tracks from Mombasa to Kisumu. Starting as a clerk and storekeeper, he soon moves to another part, in the role of a stationmaster, though his travails continue unabated. First he has to deal with a “lion problem", which is followed by a “snake problem". Before long, he rescues Diego Alvarez, a Portuguese explorer, through whom he hears of the dreaded Bunyip, a diabolical beast that kills without mercy and leaves behind a trail of three-fingered pugmarks. Alvarez also tells Shankar about the secret resources of Africa, its silver and diamond mines, and together they set out on a quest for these buried treasures.

◆Like Bandopadhyay’s plot, the storyboard of the graphic novel remains gripping, with its quick change of scenes and evolving action. The editing of the material, especially its concision, has been done with care, thought and expertise. If only the synergy between the images and the text had been more dynamic and alive

◆The only point of criticism on my part is that the story could’ve been a bit shorter. I mean, it’s an adventure tale & if something starts to feel a tad repetitive, you’re killing the magic of it.

 To quote my mother’s take on this –

“Golpo kam, sahitya beshi” (Less of fiction & more of literature).

All in all, ‘Chander Pahar’ is arguably one of the finest adventure novels I’ve had the pleasure of reading & even if you cannot read Bengali, there’s always the English translation you can check out. Highly 

recommended.

Overall Rating: 8/10