Tarinikhuro

Tarinikhuro (Meaning Tarini Uncle) is a fictional character created by Satyajit Ray. Khuro means uncle in Bengali. The full name of Tarinikhuro is Tarini Ranjan Bandopadhyay. Tarinikhuro's adventure stories have a touch of supernatural forces in them. His earlier creations were Feluda and Professor Shanku.

The character

Tarinikhuro has worked fifty six different trades, both business and service trades, in thirty-three cities all over India. This has resulted in his unending stock of stories full of strange incidents which can easily surpass two volumes of The Arabian Nights. There is a little exaggeration in his storytelling for the sake of art. He has not stayed in the same job for more than a period of one year. At the age of 64 he has settled down in a flat in Beniatola Lane in Kolkata.

The book

Tarinikhuror Kirtikolap (Meaning The Feats of Tarinikhuro] is a book written by Satyajit Ray which is the compilation of eight Tarinikhuro stories. The book was first published in September,1985 by Ananda Publishers.

Tarinikhuro stories

The stories from the book Tarinikhuror Kirtikolap are:
*Dumnigarh-er Manushkheko (The Man-Eater of Dumnigarh)
*Konway Castle-er Pretatma (The Spirit of Konway Castle)
*Sheth Gangaram-er Dhan Daulat (The Wealth of Seth Gangaram)
*Lacknow-r Duel (The Duel of Lucknow)
*Dhumalgarh-er Hunting Lodge (The Hunting Lodge of Dhumalgarh)
*Kheloyar Tarinikhuro (Player Tarinikhuro)
*Tollywood-e Tarinikhuro (Taarinikhuro in Tollywood)
*Tarinikhuro o Betal (Tarinikhuro and Betal)

The plot

Paltu is a teenage boy who is the storyteller. Tarinikhuro is not Paltu’s uncle, but from Paltu’s childhood he has seen Tarinikhuro visit their place quite frequently. Before Paltu was born, Tarinkhuro and his family were neighbours in Dhaka. Hence, he was called khuro or uncle by Paltu’s father. He has remained khuro or uncle for Paltu and his five friends as well. Napla, one of the five friends of Paltu once called him grandpa only to be scolded by Tarinikhuro. He asked him to call him uncle or khuro since he was fitter than a lot of young men. Tarinikhuro visits Paltu’s place and at once the news goes out to the other five friends. They all gather to hear the amazing stories from khuro. Tarinikhuro tells his amazing stories while enjoying the tea without milk as preferred by him, which is delivered by Paltu’s servant Lakshman. He also smokes his favourite brand of export quality bidi.

Other characters

*"Paltu" - The story teller. Khuro comes to Paltu's house in Ballygunge to tell his stories.
*"Napla" - Paltu's friend and listener of Khuro's stories. He is the smartest of the lot and the only one who questions and taunts khuro when he goes on exaggerating the facts.
*"Bhulu" - Paltu's friend and listener of Khuro's stories.
*"Chatpati" - Paltu's friend and listener of Khuro's stories.
*"Sunanda" - Paltu's friend and listener of Khuro's stories.
*"Lakshman" - Paltu's servant.

The adventures

Below are excerpts from a few of Tarinikhuro's adventures.

*"Sheth Gangaram-er Dhan Daulat" Tarinikhuro goes to Ajmer to work as a secretary of Seth Gangaram who is a patient of his uncle and very wealthy. Gangaram was a trader of jewels and has wealthy items like the locket of Jahangir.Gangaram appointed khuro as the teacher of his notorious youngest son Mahabir. Mahabir did not like him at first and went on to throw scorpions at him but khuro with his courage won his heart. Later on dacoit Tota Singh robbed Sethji and incidentally looked exactly like khuro as khuro had a Rajasthani style moustache at that point in time. The police were tipped of about khuro being the dacoit and came to arrest him. But Mahabir saved khuro by giving him sleeping pills in his drink and shaving his moustache and head as he was asleep.
*"Kheloyar Tarinikhuro" Tarinikhuro is appointed as the secretary of Virendrapratap Singh, king of Martandapur in Uttar Pradesh. Virendrapratap's father Rajendrapratap used to be a skilled cricketer in his day and had gone to England to watch the great Ranjitsinhji play. Ranjitsinhji had presented him a bat of his with which he had scored 202 runs for Sussex against Middlesex. Khuro has to play in a match against the British Planters' team for the Martandapur Cricket Club at the king's special request. Ranjitsinhji's amazing bat does the trick as khuro feels Ranjitsinhji himself has come inside him to play and eventually they win the match despite having a weaker team.

External links

* [http://www.parabaas.com/satyajit/articles/bibliography.html Satyajit Ray Bibliography]
* [http://diptakirti.blogspot.com/2007/07/books-i-grew-up-on-part-three.html Ray Books]