(From top) Sandip Ray and Barun Chanda at the launch of the actor’s novel; minister Subhas Chakraborty flags off the Family Fun Car Rally; a Hubble Space Telescope image of Mars when it was closest to Earth on December 18 and Jayashree Chakravarthy (foreground) and other artists at the workshop. Pictures by Bishwarup Dutta and PTI

Sujata Mukherjee was sprawled on the floor at an odd angle. “With one leg bent at the knee and another positioned behind, she lies in a sprinter’s pose. The pink nightie she’s wearing is pulled up to her thigh,” reads the blurb of Shaaper Jhaanpi (Snake Basket), a thriller by actor and ad-man Barun Chanda.

The blurb is meant to set the tone — the launch of the book on Friday evening at Crossword Bookstore was an “adult” affair — and the book was introduced as a mystery thriller “for adults” that promises to make you hold your breath, while the author was introduced as a “70 chhui chhui jubak” or “a youth going on 70”. In the foreword which he calls kaifiyat (justification), Chanda writes: “It is sad that most Bengali crime thrillers have been written for children. It occurred to me that there needs to be entertainment for adults too.”

“Tai khuleche shaaper jhaanpi,” he justifies. There are more justifications in the book as well. He dedicates the book to his parents and admits that “boier kichhu kichhu angsho tanra anumodon korten na (they wouldn’t approve of certain parts of the book).”

The crowd at Crossword, dotted with many giggling glamorous chiffoned ladies, ageing, but thin, was intrigued by so much promise. When Chanda, who as Shyamalendu in Satyajit Ray’s Seemabaddha took the thinking Bengali woman’s breath away, got up to read out the first four pages of the book, a member of the audience suggested: “Why not read out the adult portions.” “The censor board will take me away if I do,” he smiled.

That mysteries and crime thrillers are often not considered literature was a sore point too. Chanda writes: “When I was studying for my MA, clutching the stupendous works of Kafka and Camus was the done thing. Especially if you wanted to be thought of as an intellectual. But later I realised that no other genre has the full-bloodedness of a thriller.”

The 152-page story was described by film-maker Sandip Ray as a gripping tale. However, Ray admitted to not having read beyond 50 pages, being pressed for time. But can you leave a thriller at page 50, if it is gripping? Also present were Aparna Sen and Anjan Dutt.

Snakes, blood, adult literature, an old sex symbol. Freud, Freud.

Heart for art

The Metropolitan Society for Heritage and Environment is a new organisation supporting restoration and environmental projects, such as the illumination of St Andrews Church in BBD Bag and the rejuvenation of Jhinjhiree Talah, a large waterbody behind the Indian Museum. Not to be deterred by absence of funds, it is exploring other sources of finance, and keeping that in mind, invited a group of painters from Bangladesh to participate in a workshop recently.

Eleven artists from Bangladesh with support from about the same number in Calcutta were present: M.D. Rafiqun Nabi, Abu Taher, Samarjit Roy Choudhory, M.D. Abul Hashem Khan, Syed Jahangir, Mahmudul Haq, Abdus Shakoor Shah, Nasreen Begum, Rokeya Sultana, Aminul Islam, Sheikh Afzal from Bangladesh , and Ashok Bhowmick, Prasanta Sahu, Jogen Chowdhury, Shuvaprasanna, Shipra Bhattacharya, Wasim Kapoor, Sunil Das, Suhas Roy, Suman Roy, Laloo Prasad Shaw, Chandra Bhattacharya, Aditya Basak, Jayashree Chakravarthy, Bijan Choudhury, Samir Aich, Chhatrapati Datta and Rabin Mondal from Bengal. The location was the Kenilworth Hotel on Little Russell Street.

Once the Calcutta artists are ready with their paintings it would be time to raise funds by selling the works. An exhibition of the works has been planned, but galleries are hard to get now.

Rally ho!

Rallying, the serious kind, does not seem to happen in this city anymore. Though Calcutta had hosted the first Indian car rally that flagged off from Dum Dum and ran till Barrackpore.

Organised by Automobile Association of India (then Bengal) on August 28, 1904, it had 11 cars and four motorcycles participating with one Ms Ackatoma, the lone woman contestant.

Car rallies today are made to conjure up pictures of nostalgia, with vintage wheels carrying drivers dressed in ancient styles. But rallies are more than that. The time-distance-speed test is as much a test of nerves as of expertise.

Now auto companies are trying to improve matters. The Family Fun Car Rally organised by Toyota exclusively for their customers saw some proud owners drive their gleaming Corollas and Innovas from Nalban Boating Complex and back, about a distance of 60 km on the cool Sunday morning of December 16.

But the race itself did not seem enough to pump up the adrenaline — there were quizzes and games thrown in.

To carry on a debate

The Press Club recently saw the launch of the book Devdasi Theke Jounakarmi: Bharotey Baranganader Jibon by Moni Nag and Swati Bhattacharya, published by Deep Prakashan. The book is an overview of the women in prostitution in India from the ancient to the modern times seen from the historical, literary and cultural perspectives. Writer Nabanita Dev Sen released the book and also present on the occasion were author Sunil Gangopadhyay, historian Tapan Roychowdhury, Dr Surojit Jana, who works with the HIV-infected, and a former vice-chancellor of Visva-Bharati University, Dilip Sinha. “There are many places where the parents for their own selfish needs push their children into such work and this has also been dealt with in the book. Many laws and their subsequent amendments do not help sex workers' cause; rather, they go against them.” Roychowdhury said that the book has articulated the horrific details about their living conditions accentuated by the lack of food and clothing and their exploitation.

Gangopadhyay felt that Nag’s work has helped to create awareness among sex-workers in India. “They now speak for themselves, are more organised, voice their rights and are becoming health conscious. Such a book was essential in Bengali,” said Gangopadhyay.

“This book does not aim to argue for any position but we want to give a factual background as a premise for the debate whether sex work should be abolished or should we honour their right to work as a sex worker,” said journalist Swati Bhattacharya, the co-author.

Fear of Mars

In the third week of December, Mars came close to Earth. The red planet will only come as close to Earth in 2016, says National Geographic.

It was not an extraordinary event, as the two planets come close quite frequently. Earth passes Mars every 26 months, overtaking it in an “orbital race” as both planets go around the sun.

Neither was the proximity being viewed a dangerous event in science circles. But Mars has a reputation. First, the approaching closeness inspired a lot of hoax mail that screamed things like: “This month and next, Earth is catching up with Mars in an encounter that will culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history”, ending: “NO ONE ALIVE TODAY WILL EVER SEE THIS AGAIN!”

Astrologers are also always giving Mars bad press. Influenced by them, a Calcutta family went farthest. The affluent family performed a yajna in their palatial residence in Salt Lake in the last week of December to ward off the planet. Let’s see if it works.

(Contributed by Soumitra Das, Anasuya Basu, Malini Banerjee and Jhinuk Mazumdar)