A lifelong fan of science fiction and fantasy, especially of writers such as H.G. Although his tragic vision of human life in Pather Panchali ( The Song Of The Road, 1955) was widely feted, Ray always had one eye trained on the humorous, quirky, absurd and spooky. In spite of a number of fine translations by others available in the market, Ray’s craft stands out, not only for his innately polished command over the English language but also his equally excellent grasp over the nuances of his mother tongue.Īlso Read: 100 reasons to love Ray: His understanding of childhoodĪt 40, when Satyajit Ray took up writing regularly for children with the aim of populating the pages of the ancestral magazine Sandesh that he helped revive in the 1960s, he was already a world-famous film-maker. Seasoned Bengalis, who have grown up on a diet of the Rays, will find much to mull over in Satyajit’s rendering of classics, such as the stories by Upendrakishore collected in Tuntunir Boi (“The Toony Bird”, in Ray’s translation) and the nonsense verse of Sukumar in Abol Tabol, another literary staple on which Bengali children used to be reared.

And 3 Rays: Stories From Satyajit Ray, a forthcoming anthology edited by Sandip Ray (son of Satyajit and fourth generation in the line), presents abundant proof of their special status in Satyajit Ray’s centenary year.Ī selection of Ray’s English translations of his grandfather’s, father’s and his own Bengali writings, along with two original short stories in English he wrote in the 1940s, 3 Rays is a collectible-not merely for the treasure trove of texts it contains but also for being a beautifully designed book, studded with graphics and illustrations by the three Rays. There aren’t many instances of three generations of one family turning out to be outstanding storytellers and illustrators but the Ray Chowdhurys of Bengal were an exception. In response to Ray’s question, at least two names instantly spring to mind-that of his father, Sukumar, and, of course, his own, though Satyajit didn’t start writing regularly for young readers until 1961. “For how many writers of children’s literature can you say the same?” “The magic of Upendrakishore’s writings is the ease with which it stimulates and rouses the innocence of a child’s mind,” he wrote. In an essay on Upendrakishore Ray Chowdhury published in 1963, Satyajit Ray lavished fulsome praise on his grandfather’s unique genius.

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