Ridiculously yours dear James, Agatha, Erle, Arnalkar & Co.
I loved and enjoyed reading detective stuff. I was fascinated by Erle Stanley Gardner, be it his Perry Mason defending seemingly indefensible defendant (especially a lady in distress) with the aid of secretary Della Street and investigator Paul Drake or his ‘Donald Lam and Bertha Cool’ episodes which he wrote under his pen name ‘A.A.Fair’. After the death of his wife Gardner married his secretary Agnes Jean Bethell. The character of Della Street, they say, was a composite of Jean and her two sisters, Peggy and Ruth, who also worked as secretaries for Gardner. Erle Stanley Gardner was my first love, any way.
I loved and enjoyed reading ‘James Hadley Chase’ too. It was quite a fun to go with Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot on the trail of a murderer, but haven’t read much about her busy-body Miss Marple, though I have seen a movie based on that character. I think it was “Mirror Crack’d’ or something; I am not sure and I don’t remember the plot either. I was equally fascinated by Baburao Arnalkar’s Dhananjay- Chotu series, Kalapahad’s adventures and Zunzar stories (बाबुराव अर्नाळकर ह्यांच्या धनंजय – छोटू, झुंझार कथा व काळापहाड कथा) in Marathi. In fact, I started my reading journey of Adventure and mystery fictions (साहस आणि रहस्य कथा) with Baburao Arnalkar (बाबुराव अर्नाळकर). I had easy access to Baburao Arnalkar’s books. My mother would get four books at a time for the rental of one rupee plus one rupee as a deposit from the roadside ‘four anna vachanmala’ (चार आणे वाचन माला). Sometimes I would go to exchange these books. Of course she was also member of ‘Mumbai Marathi Granth Sangrahalaya’ (मुंबई मराठी ग्रंथ संग्रहालय), from where she would get her serious stuff. People say that Arnalkar lifted his plots from English writers. But he Indianized them perfectly, and that I can vouch. He blended his plots with the by-lanes of Kamathipura, Girgaum and Colaba to perfection. His Chandravadhan - alias Kalapahad was influenced from the English 'Black Shirt' and I’ve read it but found Arnalkar’s Kalapahad far superior.
Now coming back to James Hadley Chase, who was an English writer; I have read and enjoyed
reading him (His novels). He was
actually born on 24 December, 1906 (a Capricorn, like me) as René Lodge Brabazon Raymond. He wrote
under different pseudonyms (Why do many great writers use pseudo –names? It’s
their prerogative, of course.) He wrote as James L. Docherty, Raymond
Marshall, R. Raymond,
Ambrose Grant, including James
Hadley Chase. It is said that he was one of the best known thriller writers of all time. The canon of Chase,
comprising 90 titles, earned him a reputation as the king of thriller writers
in Europe. He was also one of the internationally best-selling authors,
and so far, 50 (may be more) of his books have been made into films. He died on 6 February,
1985 at the age of 78. And I never thought that any of his plots had ridiculous
twists and turns, and my eldest sister (she is a renowned Marathi writer in own rights) concurs with me. I found all the plots
woven with intricate web of deceit and mysteries full of suspense and thrill
and all the characters being made three dimensional as they take you through
the entire plot to the very end, progressively building your interest. The description of fights scenes - ... you can almost hear the crescendo of violence. I must have read some 24 of Chase novels and
just two – Mallory and A Short Time To Live – under his Pen – name Ramond
Marshall. And out of the twenty odd that I have read, about half of them have
been made into movies.
Once you take his book in your hand you won’t
put it down till you’re through it. When chapter one ends you’d like to go to
the next and this one too leaves you hanging on the edge of the cliff at the
end of the chapter.
This reminds of another funny incidence. I had once decided to try my hand at writing
detective fictions. I must have been in eighth or ninth class then. I mixed E.S.
Gardner, James H. Chase and Baburao Anarnalkar, churned all the Perry Masons,
Dellas, Drakes, सारे Dhananjays (धनंजय), Chotus (छोटू) आणि Chandravadans (चान्द्रवधन) & Zunzars (झुंझार), all put together and I had my own recipe, a
six-seven pages of my own detective fiction, written in Marathi. But as luck
would have it, these pages landed in the hands of my sister, Usha. She showed
it to our eldest sister, Pushpa. Look on their faces said it all. But utter
astonishment, they called my other sister, Shubhani.
"शुभानि! हे काय लिहिले आहेस?", (Shubhani, what have you written?)," they summoned her in this manner.[ A court room drama scene straight out 'Perry Mason'] "किती अशुद्ध.(how incorrect and inaccurate) र्हस्व- दीर्घ ह्यांचा काही तुला समज आहे की नाही? (Don't you know when to use long and short forms of Marathi alphabets). जे लिहिले आहेस ते चांगले आहे पण भाषेचे काय? मराठीतून शिकून सुद्धा तुझे मराठी इतके अशुद्ध कसे?" पुष्पा आणि उषाचे बिचारीला बौद्धिक डोस पाजणे चालू होते. (Whatever you have written is good but the language is all wrong.) [Poor Shubha was
going through this intellectual torture and all because of me.]
Shubha asked them to show those papers to her.
" बघू मला. हे अक्षरच मुळात माझे नाही," she was trying to defend herself and even Perry Mason, I bet, would have failed in his mission to defend her.
" बघू मला. हे अक्षरच मुळात माझे नाही," she was trying to defend herself and even Perry Mason, I bet, would have failed in his mission to defend her.
"मग काय हे विनयने लिहिलाय? तो कसा काय लिहिणार. माहित आहे ना तो सेंट SEBASTIAN मध्ये जातो, नाही का? अंग्रेजी मध्यम, नाही काय ग, पुष्पा?" Usha was prosecuting her. I imagined
her to be Hamilton Burger, the district attorney himself (oops herself).
"होय, उषा तेंव्हा आम्हाला खात्री झालाय. शुभा,तूच लिहिले आहेस! कबुल कर," Pushpa announced her verdict and I
imagined her as a judge in her black robe, a white wig on her head and grave
and stern face to go with it, striking the hammer or gravel and declaring, “Guilty!”
I felt
sorry for my sister. However, I remained silent. I haven’t disclosed that I was
the owner of those few pages till this day. But then budding Marathi writer in
me was thus stifled, the desire to write in Marathi being nipped in
the bud itself. But how could I remain in the cocoon - I have now come out and begun to write in Marathi (in twilight years) - कोशात कसे राहू? असो. आता मूळ विषया कडे वळूया.
The subject 'plots with ridiculous twists and turns' -
If I were
Bertha Cool, I’d say, “Fry me for an oyster!” or “Can me for a sardine!” But I
will stick to my guns and say-
Nah, I don't agree! Be that as it may- each one to his opinion! I will conclude with this:
Dear James, Agatha, Erle, Arnalkarji... & company,
I shall remain forever
Ridiculously Yours ,
Vinay Trilokekar
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