| Ajit Banerjee | |
|---|---|
| Byomkesh Bakshi character | |
| First appearance | Satyanneshi |
| Last appearance | Bishupal Bodh |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | writer |
Ajit Bandyopadhyay, also known as Ajit Banerjee or simply Ajit, is a longtime friend, associate, and narrator of Byomkesh Bakshi in the Bengali detective fiction written by Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay. His characterization is a substantial throwback to Dr. Watson in the Sherlock Holmes novels and short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Not much is told by the author about his background. Ajit himself says as he is narrating Sattyanneshi that before dying his father left him a moderate fortune. After finishing his studies he decided to embrace celibacy and devote himself heart and soul to literature, with an intention of heralding a revolution in Bengali literature, which he mockingly identifies as not unlike the sublime youthful dreams people of his age often nurture, most of which are ultimately left unrealized. He meets Byomkesh for the first time in Sattyanneshi and this becomes the beginning of their life-long friendship.
Ajit may be regarded as the archetype sidekick. He accompanies Byomkesh in all his escapades; in fact he is the narrator of all but three stories. He is heavily addicted to cigarettes, just like Byomkesh. He narrates the mysteries from a layman's point of view, which enables the readers to identify with him. Often he is seen perplexed by a mystery seemingly impossible to solve until Byomkesh solves it, and he realizes how easy it really was. He is often invited by Byomkesh to give his opinions about the case. Sometimes he gives intelligent opinions, for example in Pother kanta he suggests that the assassin might be using an airgun, which would enable him to carry it anywhere and use it even in the middle of the road without being conspicuous. In Durgo Rohosshyo too, he delivers some startling insights into the mystery, which astonishes Byomkesh. But sometimes his naïveté compels hearty amusement from Byomkesh, like in Makorshar Rosh he decides that the only plausible explanation of Nandadulalbabu repeatedly intoxicating himself with Tarantula extract is that he devours those that stroll on the walls of his room. In Shaila Rohosshyo, even after the entire chain of events had taken place, he was yet to fathom that the servant was Vijay Biswas himself. In Sheemonto Heera, he unwittingly discloses the guise in which they had come to the mansion of Sir Digindranarayan Roy, though admittedly their guise had already been seen through by a manservant of Digindranarayan while they were en-route by train. In Makorshar Rosh, Byomkesh asks him to try to solve the case on his behalf, citing that his involvement in another case will not give him time to do so. This leaves Ajit's friend (who came to solicit Byomkesh's help) visibly dejected. This acts as a catalyst for him, for he reasons that being with Byomkesh for quite some time, he surely has learnt a few nuggets of investigation, and thereby resolves to solve it all by himself. However after some time it becomes clear that the case is not as simple as it seems, and he concludes that he is not equal to this task, it will take the sharp faculties and uncanny detection skills of Byomkesh to solve it.
Occasionally he disagrees with Byomkesh over some issue, though most of the times he is unable to substantiate his opinion, not because he is overtly wrong, but because, as he himself unequivocally admits, his intellect is no match for his friend's. For example in Pother Kanta he refuses to accept the fact that detection banks more often on logical premises than on facts. However Byomkesh does prove his point, and he grudgingly acquiesces. But his skepticism still sustains itself in many instances, when Byomkesh relies heavily on premise. He is frequently nettled when Byomkesh withholds information from him until the opportune moment, which inevitably comes after the culprit had been caught. This feeling he shares with Byomkesh's wife Satyabati too, who calls him tortoise, alluding to his not speaking out easily. Ajit notes that Byomkesh does not like being called a tortoise, which gives him considerable pleasure. He maintains a somewhat mocking attitude towards marriage; when Byomkesh and Satyabati quarrel and then reconcile, he cannot fathom as to why they quarrel in the first place, or even more, why they patch up later. Married life according to him, is a farce.
Ajit's relation with Byomkesh is one of unalloyed love and brotherly affection, as he himself points out in Durgo Rohosshyo. He greatly respects Byomkesh for his superb faculties and investigative skills, and never refrains from extolling to others his wisdom and virtues. He is surprised when Byomkesh falls in love with Satyabati and decides to marry her; perhaps he expected that Byomkesh too will live a bachelor's life. However after they get married, he decides to leave, because he considers it his duty to allow the newly wed couple privacy and scope to let their marriage blossom. But they do not let him leave, and hence they continue to live together. He teaches Byomkesh how to play chess, but in a matter of days Byomkesh defeats him, which leads him to lose confidence in his intelligence. He takes solace in the fact that it was he who taught Byomkesh chess in the first place, his success thus is no more his than his. Whenever Byomkesh and his wife dispute over the question of superiority of male or female, he takes Byomkesh's sides, though admittedly for the losing cause mostly. He cannot bear the thought of leaving without Byomkesh, so much that when in Amriter Mrityu Byomkesh enters a house that is the site of a life claiming bomb-explosion just a few minutes ago, Ajit follows him into it even though Byomkesh instructed him to stay outside, thinking that if death is lurking inside, they might as well die together.
In Amriter Mrityu, Byomkesh asks Ajit to interrogate the wife of one of the suspects, telling him he himself cannot do it as he has other pressing matters to attend to. Ajit is initially stunned at this assignment; he enjoys the astuteness with which Byomkesh often interrogates, but having never done that himself, he does not quite feel himself equal to the task. While this might suggest that Byomkesh does this because he believes Ajit is now competent enough to conduct a simple interrogation, as the story unfolds, it looks like he did this more to keep Ajit away from the proceedings he was going to institute than to get some clue from the aforementioned interrogation, for it is clear from Byomkesh's narration that by that time he was fully aware of who the culprit is, and those proceedings were in fact to ensure that he was correct in his judgement. The author never explains it, but it can be surmised that it was due to his habit of not letting Ajit into the denouement until the last moment. However this is in contrast with the fact that he explained the entire business to Ajit that very night, something he never does.
Though Ajit does not mention it, or perhaps fails to note it, Byomkesh also loves Ajit like his own brother. When he is kept under house arrest for no reason at all in Heyalir Chhondo, Byomkesh becomes very angry, and he severely deplores the police officer who did so. Ajit himself mentions that they find it difficult to have tea without the company of the other.
Ajit is awed by the methods and intelligence Byomkesh often applies to solve a mystery, and this is vividly reflected in his narrations. He expertly portrays the mannerisms and traits of his friend, particularly on those not infrequent occasions when Byomkesh paces his room agitated and restless, because the epiphany is so near and yet so far. In such circumstances, Ajit, curious as he is, does not interrupt his friend's thoughts and lets him ponder. He also notes in Pother Kata that Byomkesh for all his brilliance, is somewhat queer, as evidenced by his going through only the advertisements in the newspapers instead of the main news, which he maintains is because he thinks it is the advertisements through which criminals often communicate their plans. Ajit refuses to buy this, however for that story at least it proves to be true, for it was a quaint ad that first excited Byomkesh's curiosity and it ultimately proved to be a rather important event as the story proceeded.Occasionally he punctuates the narration with his own insight and thoughts; for example in Chiriyakhana while he is hiding to keep a watch as to the night-time escapades of the residents, he reflects on the possible reasons of Damayanti Devi's actions and what might await her in the future. In Adim Ripu, when Byomkesh decides to burn all the money, stating that it will be their humble sacrifice at the altar of their beloved motherland on the day of her freedom, he finds it difficult to accept, even though his respect for Byomkesh is visibly increased.
He does well to depict the internal struggle through which Byomkesh goes as he torments Ramanath to elicit the location of the diamond, stating that though he ultimately won the battle, it was by no means an easy one. He does not deem it justified and moral when Byomkesh accepts a munificent wage from the lawyer of one of the prime suspects in the murder case in Adim Ripu, saying that it is more a bribe than a wage. He maintains great attention towards the nuances, it does not escape his eyes, that the doctor seemed somewhat perplexed and ill at ease when he learned of the pregnancy of Shakuntala in Bahni Patanga, nor does he fail to notice how Vijay becomes agitated as Byomkesh interrogates Damayanti Devi in Chiriyakhana.
Even though he is a celibate, he never fails to observe the physical attributes of a beautiful woman, and he goes to great length in describing them. In Chiriyakhana, he dreams about Bonolokkhi one night, which Byomkesh somehow divines. Though he initially refuses to admit, he ultimately does in the face of some humorously threateningly pressure from Byomkesh. Though this dream seems to allude to his having a crush on her, Byomkesh reveals that he had dreamt about her too, and as the mystery unfolds, we learn that these dreams were quite significantly associated with it.
His narrations abound in witty humor. His descriptions of Sir Digindranarayan Roy in Sheemonto Heera or Nanibala Devi in Adim Ripu compels hearty laugh from the readers. While he lacks the uncommon skills of observation and deduction that his friend commands, his own candid observations, even if remotely actual, often throw considerable light on the matter. Thus even though he appears to be the stereotype foil to a brilliant character, closer observations suggest that this may not be the case.
His character is often compared to that of Dr. Watson. Both had been portrayed by their authors as faithful sidekicks to the main character. Both are intended to study the case from a layman's point of view. Each is assigned at least one case to try to solve of their own- Watson in The Hound of The Baskervilles and Ajit in Makorshar Rosh. Both meet the respective detectives in the course of a mystery. However Watson lives a married life in contrast to Ajit. While Watson is certainly not averse to adventures, and even shows a penchant for it, Ajit, a traditional Bengalee clad most of the times in Dhuti and Punjabi, is not exactly enamored with such ideas; in Sheemonto Heera even after Sir Digindranarayan Roy had granted them permission to search his mansion for the diamond, he refuses to go there again, stating that the gatekeeper Ujre Singh would surely stab him even though he surely had been instructed to let them in; he is even afraid to go out in diguise for an evening stroll (which, Byomkesh deems as necessary, and later as the story unfolds, it turns out that he was right) in Pother Kanta, fearing that the police might arrest him should they see through his guise. Closely associated with Holmes and his escapades as he is, Watson still maintains a healthy practice as a doctor. Ajit's literary works however do not do much to help him financially, which leaves him and Byomkesh in financial crisis when Byomkesh has not got a case in hand to procure some income. This is starkly portrayed in Adim Ripu, where their penury reaches such an acute state that they are unable to have even decent meals. However the author offers no explanation as to why his novels fail to gain popularity or critical acclaim. It might be that they may not be that rich in literary content, or it may also be that his novels, for all their goodness, did not tune to the zeitgeist, for those were the times of intense political unrest and furor, and few people would have had time or scope to fully appreciate literature. Saradindu admitted in a letter to his friend that in order to relieve him of his monetary problems, he had planned to let Ajit buy a second hand a car in his novel Bishupal Bodh (ultimately left unfinished due to the author's death), and earn some money by letting it on rent with he being the driver, and in the process, let Satyabati (who had long cherished a car) go to the market and other places in the same. However he soon gave up on the idea, for he found the idea of a novelist becoming a cab driver to earn money as kind of cheap.
Chiriyakhana aka The Zoo(1967) directed by Satyajit Ray and produced by Harendranath Bhattacharya of Star Productions was the first screen adaptation of the Byomkesh Bakshi. Shailen Mukherjee played the character of Ajit. The film boasted an ensemble cast of contemporary actors. The duo reprised their roles in Shajarur Kanta(1974) directed by actress-turned-director Manju Dey and produced by Star Productions.
Ajit was played by K.K. Raina in a critically acclaimed television adaptation of the series directed by Basu Chatterjee.
Byomkesh Bakshi(2004) directed by Swapan Ghoshal was the second television adaptation of the series also aired on Doordarshan. Here Ajit was played by Debdut Ghosh.
Adim Ripu(in-production) is first installment of anther upcoming Byomkesh-film-trilogy directed by Singer-Song-writer-Actor-Director Anjan Dutta and produced by Red Molecules. The trilogy is shooting in Black and White to capture the essence of the post-colonial Kolkata. The film is scheduled to release on December 2009. The series will be followed by the other two stories Chitrachor and Kohen Kobi Kalidas. Here Ajit will be played by Saswata Chatterjee, son of the veteran actor Subhendu Chatterjee.
Director Rituparno Ghosh was also announced to make a film-trilogy on Byomkesh starting with Arthamanartham under the productions of Rose Valleys Motion Pictures. He has cast an ensemble cast for the series along with Prosenjit Chatterjee as Byomkesh, Tapas Paul as Ajit and Paoli Dam as Satyabati. Later the project was shelved.