One of the greatest humour writers of India, Sukumar Ray, was born on this day. His father was the children’s story writer Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury and his son, the filmmaker Satyajit Ray.
Sukumar, who died when he was 36, did not write too much, but much of what he wrote ranks among Bengali classics. His book of poems, Abol Tabol, which he illustrated himself, has remained a favourite with its delight in the absurd, and the poetry and the characters continue to inspire the Bengali imagination, which is manifest also in Puja pandals. Ha Ja Ba Ra La, illustrated by him again, may have taken off from Alice in Wonderland, but its compelling fantasy, crackling with marvellous nonsense and laced with satire, creates a world of its own. Pagla Dashu is an eternal character, wicked, mad and entirely endearing.
Sukumar trained in photography and printing technology in England at the School of Photo-Engraving and Lithography, London. He developed new methods of halftone blockmaking. He was published in the Penrose Annual. He helped to run U Ray and Sons, a publishing company Upendrakishore had founded. Sukumar launched the children’s magazine, Sandesh. He had also founded Monday Club, a humour club of which leading intellectuals of Bengal were members.
This year marks Sukumar’s hundredth death anniversary as well as the hundredth year of Abol Tabol.
