Professor Shonku (short story collection)
Professor Shonku is a collection of nine science fiction short stories by Satyajit Ray featuring the fictional scientist-inventor Professor Shonku. The collection was first published in 1965 by Calcutta publisher NewScript Publications. The original collection contained seven stories, while the eight and ninth stories were added in later editions. Eight of the nine stories were published in the children's magazine Sandesh, while the ninth, "Professor Shonku o Bhoot", was previously published in Ashcharya. The short stories are written in epistolary form, using dated diary entries as a framing device. Introduction The first of Professor Shonku's diaries is discovered by Tarak Chatterjee, an amateur (and rather poor) writer, who has a fascination for tiger stories. On hearing that a large meteor had crashed into the Matharia areas of the Sundarbans, he visited the location in search of tiger skin. Failing to find them, he looked around only to find a red notebook inside the meteor's hole (later learned to be the first of Professor Shonku's diaries). This he hands to the editor of Sandesh, who publishes the diary's entries as the first story, "Byomjatrir Diary". The diary is eaten by fire ants, but the editor visits Professor Shonku's laboratory in Giridih, India, and locates 21 other diaries, which he publishes periodically as stories in his magazine. After the first few stories, the editor stops appearing, and the stories begin with the journal entries themselves, narrated by Shonku directly. Synopses of stories Byomjatrir Diary A poor author approaches the editor of Sandesh with a journal by Professor Shonku, a scientist who disappeared fifteen years ago. The editor learns from the diary that Shonku, despite being mocked by his neighbour Abinash Chandra Majumdar, was getting prepared for a voyage to Mars. He also invented a robot that he called Bidhushekhar. Later, Shonku, his servant Prahlad, his pet cat Newton, and Bidhushekhar arrive on Mars and are attacked by an army of Martians. They flee from Mars, lose their way in space, and after many days of wandering, finally arrive in Tafa, an unknown planet inhabited by the "first civilized humans of the solar system". Unlike the Martians, the inhabitants of Tafa welcome the strangers and make Shonku their fellow citizen. The editor plans to publish the journal in his magazine, only to discover later that the diary has been destroyed by a swarm of ants. Professor Shonku o Harh Upon the Abinash's insistence, Professor Shonku visits a sadhu in Giridih, who is always seen hanging upside down from a tree, and is known to have the ability to bring dead animals back to life through the power of his spells. When skeletons of dead animals are brought to him, he brings them back to life. Being a scientist and an inventor, Professor Shonku was sure there was hypnotism involved but is stunned to see that the animals are being revived. Shonku secretly records the spell that the sadhu was chanting and. When he tries to play the chant at his laboratory, he only