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One wouldn't
expect a debutant writer with a moniker as pedestrian as S.M. Ghatak to
surprise with unpredictability. But he does. With this sophisticated,
clever collection of stories, Ghatak hitches his literary wagon to the
great Conan Doyle canon, a classic body of work concerning the saturnine
detective who spoke the immortal words, "You've been to Afghanistan,
I perceive," much before Osama bin Laden even happened. After the
success of Jamyang Norbu's Mandala of Sherlock Holmes, Ghatak has proved
to be a worthy follower of the canon, and has taken it one step further-spoofed
it as well.
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THE CASE OF THE PARSON'S PARROT
By S.M. Ghatak
Rupa
Price: Rs 195
Pages: 118 |
Holmes and his bumbling Boswell, Dr Watson, have been the muse of many
a Baker Street aficionado and spawned detectives like Poirot and Hastings,
creating a genre of Sherlock Holmes stories. Ghatak writes exquisite English,
with perfect fidelity to the period, and the sense of the ludicrous that
runs through all the stories gives it terrific static. There are absolute
gems-Watson is astounded he has gone deaf as a result of Holmes incessant
fiddling, and is confounded when Holmes passes him a note, "Elementary.
Remove your earplugs."
 A
fantastic caricaturist, Ghatak has delineated the karma of Watson as a
victim of Holme's cockamamie schemes-the great detective has been portrayed
as an endearing Peter Sellers of fiction, leaping to light his pipe with
shag from the Persian slipper and pulling on his deerstalker the moment
he hears steps on the stairs, beclouding the room as if the source of
the London fog was 221B Baker Street. A succession of hapless clients
stagger into the room and fall on the carpet in a dead faint, to be revived
with Watson's brandy; the empty bottle at the end of the consultation
is the doctor's perennial despair. And Holmes is hopelessly addicted to
playing Sonny Boy (Sonny Boy, indeed!) on the numerous fiddles he has
secreted in the apartment to stump a tone-haunted Watson. The fiddle is
played at various crime scenes-at the bulldog Bulstrode who chases Holmes
and Watson, who is dressed as a bulldog, all the way to the railway station
in The Case of the Bibulous Bulldog Owner, or at the feast at Chislehurst
where Watson's culinary skill enrages a hungry mob to murderous pursuit.
The good doctor's singular prescription of Pilchard's Original Horse Liniment
is the philosopher's stone of all remedies, acting alike on mule and man.
Fortunately, the backdoor of Watson's clinic is always open to facilitate
an easy exit from the attentions of those who have used the unsurpassed
ointment.
Many try to ape a master, and some even dare to reinvent him. Usually
the consequences are disastrous. But if someone were to ask Holmes about
how Ghatak has done, the great man would have looked up from the perusal
of the palimpsest on little-known Asiatic poisons and replied, "Elementary,
Watson. He knows his Doyle."
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CURRENT
ISSUE FEB 4, 2002
The
Religion of Man
Hindu
Nationalism
Collected
Essays
Healing
the Subcontinent
Fighting
Shadows
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