Ha Ja Ba Ra La (Mumbo Jumbo)

ALL of you know Satyajit Ray. Ray was one of the most prolific writers, film-makers of modern India. You can google him and find out all the details. I want to draw your attention to the fact that writing and literature ran in the family. His lineage was as follows:


Upendrakishore Raychowdhury (1863-1915)
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Sukumar Ray (1887-1923)
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Satyajit Ray (1921-1992)

The above three have made immense contribution to the cause of Bengali literature. I for one am particularly fond of three books of Sukumar Ray which deal with utter nonsense. But the comedy has been put forth in such a hilarious manner that some portions of them make me laugh every day. Let me reproduce a para about him from the WIKI

Sukumar Ray (Bengali: সুকুমার রায়) (1887-1923) was a Bengali humorous poet, story writer and playwright. As perhaps the most famous Indian practitioner of literary nonsense, he is often compared to Lewis Carroll. His works such as the collection of poems "Aboltabol" (Bangla: "আবোলতাবোল")("Gibberish"), novella "HaJaBaRaLa" (Bangla:হযবরল), short story collection "Pagla Dashu" (Bangla:"পাগলা দাশু") ("Crazy Dashu") and play "Chalachittachanchari" (Bangla: "চলচিত্তচঞ্চরী") are considered nonsense masterpieces equal in stature to Alice in Wonderland, and are regarded as some of the greatest treasures of Bangla literature. More than 80 years after his death, Ray remains one of the most popular of children's writers in both West Bengal and Bangladesh.

The three books I am talking of are Aboltabol, Ha Ja Ba Ra La and Pagla Dashu.

Aboltabol means Gibberish. It is a collection of rhymes which every Bengali child knows of. The rhyming is melody to the ear.

http://www.bangalinet.com/sukumar_roy_abol_tabol_


Some examples:

Bhoy peona , Bhoy peona,

               Tomai aami marbo na,

Satti bolchi kusti kor_e,

              Tomar sang_e Parbo na.

The picture in his imagination is a man trying to run away from a huge animal which rises from nowhere. The animal is saying the above lines which mean that don’t be afraid; I am not going to kill you; Truly, I won’t be able to win a kushti bout with you.

Another one-

Shunt_e pelum Posta giy_e,

         Tomar naaki may_er Biy_e,

Ganga Ram_ke Patro Pel_e,

        Jaant_e chao sh_e kemon Chele?



Very hilarious one.

Ha Ja Ba Ra La – (mumbo jumbo) is another delightful story of craziness.

But nothing to beat Paagla Dashu (Crazy Dashu)! Dashu is a crazy student character, whose crazy stories make you go into splits. Here is some introduction from Wiki.

Pagla Dashu is a character appearing in several prominent works of Bangla literature from the early 20th century, most notably Pagla Dashu (1940). He is a school boy, famous for his crazy ideas and often inexplicable acts that carry subtle, comedic satire. Pagla Dashu is mainly a children's story which is fun to read and creative.


Pagla Dashu has become one of the very popular characters of Bengali literature, like many other characters created by Sukumar Ray, a popular Bengali author of nonsense poetry.

One sentence which I use regularly at home is “ abaar aami Aashiachi Phir_e” meaning I have come back once again.

The context was there was a play being enacted at school. In the last scene the King is asking his minister as to what did the Angel say before returning to Heaven? As the minister was explaining that the Angel had showered his blessings to everyone and had since returned to his abode, Dashu re-entered the stage and announced that he has come back again. This re-entry was not scripted in the original play and none of the actors on stage was prepared for this. There was a confusion and the curtains were dropped in a jiffy. On being asked later as to why he behaved that way, Dashu explained that he felt that the people on stage were not speaking at all and that someone was glaring at him menacingly and some such rubbish. He being a paagal, no action was taken against him.

Whatever, I love this sentence and make frequent use of this one. The latest use was last night, when I drove our maid to the station to drop her only to find that JnaneshwarI Express was rescheduled to 4 o’clock today morning. So on returning home I announced on behalf of her that she was back again.