Translation : Crazy Dashu
Genre: Fiction, Fantasy
Age recommendations : 7+
Pages : 194
Collection of 25 short stories
Translated into English by Sukanta Chaudhuri along with Jadavpur University Translators Collective
First published in Bengali in 1940.
English translation published in 2012.
How correctly Mahithi Pillai puts it " Mischief is Timess and isn't limited by language.
Pagla Dashu is a clever and mischievous, fictional character, created by Sukumar Ray. He is a popular character in Bengali literature. He is often used as an idiom in popular language. He is a round eyed, curly haired boy. That cleverly mischievous boy that we have all had in our school. Very believable, yet Special, and adorable. And these stories, from the first one itself makes u fall in love with this crazy little fellow.
In one of the stories, how Dashu plays with the fact that "too much curiosity not a good thing". The stories have a real life feel and tickles the true emotions of the children.
It has Wisdom cleverly wrapped in Wit. Some may question whether a Bengali schoolboy conceptualised a century ago would be relatable to the modern kids of today.
Yes, it does!
And that is why Classics are classics!
And in this case, mischief is timeless.
As told to times of India,
The biggest challenge before the group was to retain the humour while translating the colloquial dialogues written nearly a century ago. As the book's prologue admits: 'Pagla Dashu is too Bangla and to Pagla to be translated.' The book also features rare illustrations by the father-son duo of Sukumar Ray and Satyajit Ray. It also features the original cover of the book published in Bengali.
The Bengali readers may not enjoy the English translation as much. They may find it stripped of its original Bengali colloquial content. However, for non Bengali readers it is still a good view into the world of Sukumar Ray.
The book is available here
http://youngindiabooks.com/bookrev/crazy-tales-pagla-dashu-and-co
And here
http://www.amazon.in/gp/aw/d/9350095416/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453972402&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=crazy+tales+of+pagla+dashu&dpPl=1&dpID=41%2Bc7C2HTYL&ref=plSrch
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