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পলাতক তুফান (Runaway Cyclone)

Jagadish Chandra Bose
3.50/5 (35 ratings)
Read Now Download Now
This story by J.C. Bose (1858-1937) is regarded as one of the first works of early science fiction in the Bangla language, and one of the first science fiction stories in India. It was first published in 1896 as "Niruddesher Kahini" ("The Story of the Missing One"), the winning entry in the Kuntalin Story Competition. Kuntalin was a popular hair oil at this time. The inventor and owner of the oil, Hemendramohan Basu, instituted a promotional annual fiction competition from 1896 onwards, with the precondition that the story would have to feature the hair oil and promote it. (For details about the competition, see: Bhattacharya, Arupratan. Bangalir Bigyanbhabana o Sadhana. Kolkata, Dey’s Publishing, 2006.)While the oil itself was symbolic of the industry of its creator, who was also active in the Swadeshi movement, it was Bose who turns this potentially nationalist symbol to an active cultural symbol that could combine scientific endeavour with nationalist concerns. Bose was the first winner of the competition that would later include some of the best names of the period, including Jagadananda Ray, who wrote what is arguably the first science fiction story in Bangla (although published much later). Bose later reworked the story for his collection Abyakto (1921) with the alternate title "Palatak Toofan" ("Runaway Cyclone").The later version has been used for this translation and significant changes have been indicated in the footnotes. These include the name of the hair oil (now "Kuntal Keshari") and a new backstory about its mysterious and supernatural origins. Moreover, while the 1896 version uses both English and Bangla, with English for scientific explanation (mostly) and Bangla for the narrative, the 1921 version uses only the latter language. The 1921 version also excludes a long explanatory passage from a scientific journal at the end of the story, as well as a reference to the Empire (both in English).
The source text for translation of both the 1896 and 1921 versions of the story was taken from Sera Kalpabigyan (Best Science Fiction), ed. Anish Deb (Kolkata: Ananda Publishers Limited, 2007). The 1921 version has been cross-checked against the reprinted Abyakto: A collection of popular science of Jagadish Chandra Bose articles and other essays by Jagadish Chandra Bose (Kolkata: Dey’s Publishing, 2009 [1921]). The translation is included in my PhD dissertation, Bangla Kalpabigyan: Science Fiction in a Transcultural Context (University of Oslo. 2013).

—Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, September 2013

Endnotes
[1.] 1896: Englishman.
[2.] Cyclones have been common phenomena in Bengal. There were four major cyclones in the Bay of Bengal in the 19th century alone. Of these, a particularly destructive one had been the great Calcutta cyclone of 1864 in which over 50,000 lives were lost. The Meteorological Department in Kolkata was established after this cyclone. According to the Encyclopaedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones:Aghast at the Great Calcutta Cyclone’s economic and human scope, the British East India Company subsequently established the continent’s first weather service, the Indian Meteorological Department. Symbolically headquartered in a rebuilt Calcutta, the service was tasked with tracking threatening Bay of Bengal cyclones through shipping reports and then telegraphing that information to vulnerable coastal areas via a comprehensive network of warning stations. (David Longshore, Encyclopaedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones, New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2008, p. 257-58)[3.] At this point a number of significant lines of the 1896 version have been left out, most significantly the line reported by the Reuters agent to the Times: "The Capital of our Indian Empire is in danger." By the time the story was republished with the new title, Calcutta was no longer the capital city.
[4.] 1896: Englishman.[5.] 1896: Daily News.[6.] 1896: Pioneer, Civil and Military Gazette, Statesman.
[7.] The 1921 version uses a plural form to refer to the different scientific opinions while citing merely one. The 1896 version gives a second "scientific" opinion which is both humorous and politically loaded, thus providing a justification for the plural form. It mentions that "the Lieutenant-Governor had gone for a stroll in Diamond Harbour right before the storm would have struck Calcutta, and his fierce reputation managed to quell the force of the storm!"
[8.]1896: Herr Stürm F. R. S., "On a Vanished Cyclone." While the 1896 version contains the title, the long extract from the Professor’s paper/speech is not a part of it.
[9.]The 1896 version ended with a short passage in English:Six months after this story the following scientific explanation was published by Scientific American.
Format:
Pages:
pages
Publication:
1921
Publisher:
Edition:
Language:
ben
ISBN10:
ISBN13:
kindle Asin:
B0DTVW1WNK

পলাতক তুফান (Runaway Cyclone)

Jagadish Chandra Bose
3.50/5 (35 ratings)
Read Download
This story by J.C. Bose (1858-1937) is regarded as one of the first works of early science fiction in the Bangla language, and one of the first science fiction stories in India. It was first published in 1896 as "Niruddesher Kahini" ("The Story of the Missing One"), the winning entry in the Kuntalin Story Competition. Kuntalin was a popular hair oil at this time. The inventor and owner of the oil, Hemendramohan Basu, instituted a promotional annual fiction competition from 1896 onwards, with the precondition that the story would have to feature the hair oil and promote it. (For details about the competition, see: Bhattacharya, Arupratan. Bangalir Bigyanbhabana o Sadhana. Kolkata, Dey’s Publishing, 2006.)While the oil itself was symbolic of the industry of its creator, who was also active in the Swadeshi movement, it was Bose who turns this potentially nationalist symbol to an active cultural symbol that could combine scientific endeavour with nationalist concerns. Bose was the first winner of the competition that would later include some of the best names of the period, including Jagadananda Ray, who wrote what is arguably the first science fiction story in Bangla (although published much later). Bose later reworked the story for his collection Abyakto (1921) with the alternate title "Palatak Toofan" ("Runaway Cyclone").The later version has been used for this translation and significant changes have been indicated in the footnotes. These include the name of the hair oil (now "Kuntal Keshari") and a new backstory about its mysterious and supernatural origins. Moreover, while the 1896 version uses both English and Bangla, with English for scientific explanation (mostly) and Bangla for the narrative, the 1921 version uses only the latter language. The 1921 version also excludes a long explanatory passage from a scientific journal at the end of the story, as well as a reference to the Empire (both in English).
The source text for translation of both the 1896 and 1921 versions of the story was taken from Sera Kalpabigyan (Best Science Fiction), ed. Anish Deb (Kolkata: Ananda Publishers Limited, 2007). The 1921 version has been cross-checked against the reprinted Abyakto: A collection of popular science of Jagadish Chandra Bose articles and other essays by Jagadish Chandra Bose (Kolkata: Dey’s Publishing, 2009 [1921]). The translation is included in my PhD dissertation, Bangla Kalpabigyan: Science Fiction in a Transcultural Context (University of Oslo. 2013).

—Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, September 2013

Endnotes
[1.] 1896: Englishman.
[2.] Cyclones have been common phenomena in Bengal. There were four major cyclones in the Bay of Bengal in the 19th century alone. Of these, a particularly destructive one had been the great Calcutta cyclone of 1864 in which over 50,000 lives were lost. The Meteorological Department in Kolkata was established after this cyclone. According to the Encyclopaedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones:Aghast at the Great Calcutta Cyclone’s economic and human scope, the British East India Company subsequently established the continent’s first weather service, the Indian Meteorological Department. Symbolically headquartered in a rebuilt Calcutta, the service was tasked with tracking threatening Bay of Bengal cyclones through shipping reports and then telegraphing that information to vulnerable coastal areas via a comprehensive network of warning stations. (David Longshore, Encyclopaedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones, New York: Facts on File, Inc., 2008, p. 257-58)[3.] At this point a number of significant lines of the 1896 version have been left out, most significantly the line reported by the Reuters agent to the Times: "The Capital of our Indian Empire is in danger." By the time the story was republished with the new title, Calcutta was no longer the capital city.
[4.] 1896: Englishman.[5.] 1896: Daily News.[6.] 1896: Pioneer, Civil and Military Gazette, Statesman.
[7.] The 1921 version uses a plural form to refer to the different scientific opinions while citing merely one. The 1896 version gives a second "scientific" opinion which is both humorous and politically loaded, thus providing a justification for the plural form. It mentions that "the Lieutenant-Governor had gone for a stroll in Diamond Harbour right before the storm would have struck Calcutta, and his fierce reputation managed to quell the force of the storm!"
[8.]1896: Herr Stürm F. R. S., "On a Vanished Cyclone." While the 1896 version contains the title, the long extract from the Professor’s paper/speech is not a part of it.
[9.]The 1896 version ended with a short passage in English:Six months after this story the following scientific explanation was published by Scientific American.
Format:
Pages:
pages
Publication:
1921
Publisher:
Edition:
Language:
ben
ISBN10:
ISBN13:
kindle Asin:
B0DTVW1WNK

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