Remembering Rijuda – an Impressive Creation by Buddhadev Guha

I do not know how many of new generation Bengalis have read Buddhadev Guha – or how many of them can read Bengali. But if any of my blog readers reads this, perhaps this will make them remember one of their childhood heroes. To my blog readers from other countries – this may help in understanding a fast extinguishing people called “Bengali intellectuals”.   

When did Rijuda first appear? Bibliography says the first Rijuda story “Rijudar sange jangale” (In the wild, with Rijuda) was published in 1973. But I was first introduced to Rijuda in “Gugunogumbarer Deshe” (In the land of Gugunogumbar) in 1981. Rijuda was the first person to tell me that, there is a language called Swahili in Tanzania. How do they speak Swahili? – First letter of proper nouns is often dropped while pronouncing – so you write “Ngorongoro” and pronounce the same as “Gorongoro”.  This was a great discovery for a 10 year old kid of course! In addition, the fiction offers the scope of travelling in the national parks in Africa with Rijuda – a young adventurous Bengali having a passion for wild life, hunting, history, geography, anthropology and what not! He is a connoisseur of fine arts, exploring all corners of music, painting, film and theatre. Moreover, he makes friends with Masai leaders and fights against poachers. Children love knowledgeable people to travel with. I also did - identifying myself with Rijuda’s young follower and biographer – Rudra! Rijuda was wounded by a bullet shot by a poacher, a betrayer who Rijuda trusted as a friend in this story. Probably that made the kid more affectionate to the human hero – a reason to read more Rijuda stories.

What a wonder! In ‘Rijudar sange jangale’, I discovered that a grown up man like Rijuda loves dogs – he has seven named sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni, who unfortunately disappeared in the stories later.

Another interesting fact is - Rijuda also stays in Bishop Lefroy Road – the address of the great Satyajit Ray. Is there any resemblance between Rijuda and Satayjit Ray, who was known as “Manikda” in his close circle? Yes – both these tall and large Bengalis are storehouse of knowledge, both have several companions waiting to accompany them in their adventurous journey through life, both are pipe-smokers, both are celebrated Bengali “Dada”s. I do not suspect that Bengali “dada-culture” was directly influenced by European avant-garde Dadaism but yes, “Dada”s in Bengal’s literary and cultural circle are synonymous to intellectual superiority. I do not know whether Satyajit Ray was an inspiring model for Rijuda’s character. Satyajit never went for hunting at least!

I cannot remember exactly in which year I read “Ruaha” – we can call this a sequel of “Gugunogumbarer Deshe”. In this story, Rijuda went back to the same Tanzanian national park twice to complete his unfinished task of eliminating the poachers. Probably this is the only place which Rijuda visited twice. The wonderful addition made in Ruaha is Titir - an intelligent, slim, adventurous Bengali teen-age girl. In the beginning, I was similarly confused like Rudra and Bhatkai, both cousins of Rijuda, whether a girl should be included in the team – but the plan was ‘magnifique’, I realized later. How did we know otherwise that even Indian girls can be excellent rifle shooters? Dadas are incomplete without followers – same way Sherlock Holmes cannot exist without Dr. Watson. But the uniqueness of a Bengali dada lies in his leadership skill. He is mentor for growing children. He not only educates his followers about the marvels of science and arts, but also trains them to become adventurists. He is a hunter who permits his companions to hunt, not being too possessive about own kill. The incorrigible Bhatkai and Gadadhar, the incredible cook working for unmarried Rijuda, play the role of comic relief as well.

Rijuda is foodie. There are references of mouth watering dishes in many of the stories. Gadadhar, as told earlier, is an expert chef to prepare his everyday food in Kolkata. During their trip, neither Rijuda, nor Rudra or Bhatkai leaves a single chance of trying local delicacies. Rijuda earns well, spends a lot not only for food and lifestyle but also for his near ones. The open hearted man tries to reward his friends like Durgada. His incredible friend’s circle includes Indian Maharajas to govt officials, English forest lovers to Indian villagers – only with the condition that they have to be nice and honest.  

Typical about Rijuda is, though compassionate, he is not a part of the nature or natural environment he visits. He is an ardent observer who has profound knowledge of the places he visits. He loves forests; bewitched by the nature’s beauty, interested in animal conservation, he visited all famous national parks and forests in Africa and India, but never tried to adopt a forest-dweller’s lifestyle. Staying in luxurious forest bungalows during his trips, enjoying good food and smoking the exclusive Meerschaum pipes – he proves his self awareness. He comes from Bengali upper middle class and never tries to hide it. He is politically conscious. Annoyed with Rup Kanwar killing incident in Rajasthan and Pakistan’s way of handling convicts, poverty in Indian remote villages and brainless dominance of Indian feudalism – the intellectual Calcutta guy critically analyses things from the viewpoint of educated urban Bengali, even without being drawn into any of those consequences. His attraction to classicism is well expressed in “Rijudar sathe Lobongi bone”  - where he describes his acquaintances, all high officials in different Government organisations , the ultimate destination of Bengali educated upper middle class since British era. Another remarkable Bengali feature attached to Rijuda’s character is the obsession for very good marks in exams. Bengali children are not acceptable as human being even in the families unless they do very well in exams – so Rudra is a winner of national scholarship in Higher secondary, the most prestigious 12^th standard exam in the country till mid-nineties because of its difficulty level. (This Bengali obsession is started seeing a change post-90’s with the introduction of globalisation and rise of neo-middle class).

As a grown up reader, I found the immense importance of Rijuda stories in explaining the socio-economic history of Bihar-Jharkhand Orissa region, area which Rijuda visits again and again. Sometimes staying in forest bungalows, sometimes being a guest of Indian royals – the economic status of whom did not change even after the royalty was abolished. The underground practice of poaching and illegal mining, exploitation of commoners, simplicity of underprivileged rural people and ferocity of local mafia, new generation of Indian criminals having contact with drug and gambling rackets of the world  - all are narrated, not always in a loud tune, but enough for a reader to identify the areas.

Finally, we should talk about the most significant quality in Rijuda – compliance to rule of law! He loves his extended family, he honours friendship; is loyal to human ethics. In the beginning, he did not mind hunting bears and wild boars at the simple request of forest villagers. But later, he developed himself as a conservationist. He goes for hunting only to kill rogue elephants and man-eater tigers, with a heart full of compassion for the ill-fated animal. At the same time, he does not mind taking the role of a rough and tuff detective the moment he smells some illegal activities.  Yes, not all his adventures are hunting stories; he is simultaneously successful as a detective! He experimented with writing as well. “Moulir Raat”and “Tadbaghoa” were successful adventure stories. I remember another story, “Tinkodi” written by Rijuda himself. Probably he lost patience for writing later.

Rijuda disappeared from public sight. He simply vanished after his Sufkar journey in 1993. Probably spending his retired life in some forest bungalow, watching porcupines, Indian bison, tigers, boars and elephants in the bewitching greens and reds and yellows of the wild, under the sky that changes colours several times a day  -  civilised world is altered so much that a man like Rijuda feels like an alien these days.   Rijuda – ‘The strong one’ as the meaning of the word suggests, remains an uncompromising Bengali intellectual nature lover.

More on Buddhadev Guha- the author: http://www.calcuttayellowpages.com/adver/108955.html