3 Review(s)

Through these two works, 'Who Came First...' and 'Beyond the Indus River to the Mid-Age of Lapis Lazuli', Souvik Chakraborty took Niren Bhaduri out of the world of Tantra and horror literature and into the world of fantasy. And not just fantasy, in these stories, Souvik's pen has touched multiple realms. Spy adventure, crime thriller, mystery story, travel literature, historical novel. You can feel the mood of the pine forest rustling in the cold breeze of the Darjeeling foothills while sitting in Kolkata, and you will also know that the root of the supernatural mystery that looms in that dark green darkness is actually hidden in the folklore of Central Europe and European devil worship. You have known for a long time that if the goddess Inanna's rod cannot be rescued, the gates of hell will not open, and the way to save Titas will be closed forever. But the story of how Bengali children, crazy about friendship and love like you and me, crossed the Indus River of hundreds of thousands of dangers to reach distant Iraq, in order to rescue that rod, has truly taken on an epic form in the imagination and pen of Souvik.