Tin Goyenda
 Cover of a typical Tin Goyenda Volume | |
| Author |
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|---|---|
| Cover artist |
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| Country | Bangladesh |
| Language | Bengali |
| Series | Tin Goyenda |
| Subject | Kishore Thriller Adventure |
| Genre | Thriller/Mystery/Adventure |
| Publisher | Sheba Prokashoni |
Publication date | 1985 – Current |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
Tin Goyenda (Bengali: তিন গোয়েন্দা [t̪in ɡoend̪a]) is a series of juvenile detective novels published in Bangladesh by Sheba Prokashoni. It is actually a Bengali translation of the English series The Three Investigators by Robert Arthur. Rakib Hasan started this series and later Shamsuddin Nawab took over from him. The Tin Goyenda series is a subseries of Kishore Thriller (Juvenile Thriller) series of Sheba Prokashoni. Apart from Tin Goyenda, Kishore Thriller Adventure is another subseries.
Leading characters
Tin Goyenda, as the name explains, is the tale of three teenage detectives. They are not only the investigators, but adventurers as well. Thrill, suspense and challenge is their main attraction.
The three young friends, Kishore Pasha, Musa Aman and Robin Milford formed the Tin Goyenda. Sometimes Georgina Parker (more commonly referred to as Jina) and her pet dog Ruffian (Rafi for short) accompany them. Tin Goyenda live in Rocky Beach, a small coastal town of California, USA. They are in the same class at Rocky Beach High School & Green Hills School, though their grade is not mentioned anywhere. That's why every young reader imagines them as his/her classmate. According to the cover pages of the original 'The Three Investigators' series the investigators are younger than 'Hardy Boys' and presumably 13–14 years old.
Kishore Pasha
Kishore Pasha, a Bangladeshi-American, is the leader of the team (Goyenda Prodhan). His parents died in a car accident when he was 7. it was described in first part that the accident occurred when they were returning home from Hollywood. (In the original 'The Three Investigators' series however, the character Kishore's name is 'Jupitar Jones' and nickname 'Jupe'. According to the cover pages of the original series Jupe was a 13–14 years old white American with black hair. His father and mother were both professional ballroom dancers and died together in a car accident when Jupe was just 4 years old). Kishore's father's name was Zahed Pasha. He has been living with his uncle Rashed Pasha and aunt Maria Pasha since his parents died in the car crash. Mr. Pasha owns a junk yard known as Pasha Salvage Yard. With curly black hair, dark, deep and sharp eyes reflecting the glow of his brilliance, Kishore Pasha has a habit of pinching his lower lip whenever he does some vital brainwork or is lost in a deep thought. His eyes don't miss a single tiny thing and his photographic memory never allows him to forget that. He is a born actor, an electronic wizard and the locomotive of the Tin Goyenda as well. He was a child actor. (In the original English series, the name of the TV series where he acted in his childhood was 'Baby Fatso', In the bangla book 'Pagol Shongho' the name of the TV show was 'Pagol Shongho' where Kishore's character name was 'Moturam'. It is to be noted that in the Bangla series or from the cover pages of the Bangla series we can assume that Kishore was a bit plump or fat during his childhood but at present, he is slim. However, in the 'The Three Investigators' series Jupitar is always mentioned as plump and stocky) He has two dogs 'Titu' and 'Bagha'. .Being really obese in the childhood, he now dreads of being fat and always tries to maintain a strict diet.He has no interest in the girls around him and is quite shy when it comes to romance.Altogether the series it has been mentioned that he can act like himself only around Jina Parker, therefore it induces that he might like her underneath and has a different perception about her. He does not like to draw attention from public and likes to work behind the scenes. Though through his work he has made many unusual friends on the way such as the French art-thief Shoppa.
Musa Aman
Musa Aman, the second detective, is an Afro-American (In the original series- Peter Crenshaw, nickname Pete. According to the cover pages of the original series he is a 13–14 years old white American with brown hair). His first passion is eating and that is why he falls victim of the experimental cooking of Nisan Jung Kim (the Vietnamese cook of Mr. Saimon) who loves to cook unusual dishes every now and then. Having an athletic figure and strength, he is the muscle man of the team. Often he uses his head as a weapon to butt the belly of the enemy, especially when there is a need to clear his way. Musa Aman can fight any living thing but he is scared even to utter the name of ghosts. This trait might be a proof of how even the most strong and powerful person can possess an exceptional weakness. In utmost Excitement he sometimes utters the word 'Khaichhe' (Bengali: খাইছে) (though literally meaning eaten, here it means 'Damn it!'). Often he provides the comic relief for the books. Musa lives with his parents: Mr. Rafat Aman, special effect technician in a film producing company. Musa hates to read books.He has also shown a great passion for animals as can be seen from his love for dogs.It has also been mentioned that insects and soldier ants are greatly attracted to him for some special element in his blood.Occasionally,he is engaged in arguing with the female character Jina.He has an younger cousin named Fariha. Loyalty to the team, deep respect for the teammates and occasional heroism; many qualities set Musa apart from other characters. He has also faced life-threatening risks many times for helping others including a time when he climbed a burning house for saving a little boy.
Robin Milford
The ancestors of Robin Milford came to America from Ireland (In the original series- Robert Andrews, nickname Bob. According to the cover pages of the original series he is a 13–14 years old white American with golden hair). He is the Book-worm (although Kishore reads a lot of books too). This bookworm, also known as the moving encyclopedia, is the researcher and documentation specialist of the team. He works part-time in the Rocky Beach Library and the leading local music company. He collects valuable information related to the current case of Tin Goyenda. The first books of the series shows him to be a skinny and short boy, but later on he grows taller and becomes very efficient with the ladies. He is known as a hunk. Like Musa Aman, he also lives with his parents. His parents are journalists. His father Roger Milford is a famous journalist who works for Los Angeles Times. Robin Milford is also said to be an expert mountain climber, though it is mentioned that he broke his limbs several times when climbing. He has a strong sixth sense but lacks karate skills of an expert level. Although he is quite peaceful in nature, he's often found teasing Musa and others.
Additional characters
Georgina Parker
She was introduced in the books at Pretshadhona (Worship of Spirits). In the original series her name is ‘Georgina Kirrin’. She is the daughter of famous scientist Harison Parker (In the original series - ‘Quentin Kirrin’). Original series writer Blyton revealed that the nature of ‘Georgina’ was based on the writer herself. We can see in the books that Georgina or George is boyish, courageous, short-tempered and loyal. she is a classmate of these three investigators.
Roda
Roda is a new character in tin goyenda and the stories are based on the city named "Death City". In the story,'Mayapoth' tin goyenda meets roda.In the story Rashed Pasha(Kishore's paternal uncle) bought a house there.The city is full of paranormal things. Since Mayapoth, many stories have been written by Rakib Hasan and Shamsuddin Nawab.Such as: Himpisacher Kobole, Doitter Guhai Tin Goyenda, Somoysuronge Abar, Somoysuronge Mohabipad, Bhuture Sahor and many others.
Other characters
Davis Christopher
David Christopher is a famous film producer and director in Hollywood (In the original series- Alfred Hitchcock, he was a real person. At the height of his success, his name was commercially licensed to promote several book series). He gave the Tin Goyenda their first break. Almost all of Tin Goyenda's cases have been transformed into juvenile movies produced by Mr. Christopher. After the first case, Mr. Christopher often calls on Tin Goyenda to solve another puzzling mystery.
Omar Sharif
Omar Sharif is an Egyptian adventure-loving pilot in his late twenties or early thirties. He was the favorite pilot of Davis Christopher. He was introduced in the books Jaladossur Dip 1, 2 (The Island of the Pirates, Part 1 and 2). Later he became Tin Goyenda's favorite Omar Bhai. He took part in a number of adventures with Tin Goyenda. Later, Omar and Tin Goyenda founded a flying club private airliner in the name of 'OKIMURO Corporation' . O for Omar, Ki for Kishore, Mu for Musa and Ro for Robin.
Victor Simon
Victor Simon is a renowned private eye/author/adventurer (In the original series- Hector Sebastien, he is a not a real person like Alfred Hitchcock. Sebastien is a fictional writer who records the adventures of ‘The Three Investigators’ from their words). He is a very wealthy man keeping a special relationship with the boys. He keeps passing them cases time to time just like Mr. Christopher. Sometimes Mr. Simon and Tin Goyenda work together on the same case.The first story when Tin Goyenda met him was Khora Goyenda(The lame detective).
Police Chief Captain Ian Fletcher
Captain Ian Fletcher is the Police Chief in Rocky Beach (In the original series- Samuel Reynolds, everybody calls him ‘Chief Reynolds’. He is a bulky man and a bit bald. Source: Fourth book of the original ‘The Three Investigators’ series, The Mystery of the Green Ghost, written by- Robert Arthur, first published in 1965). He also gives cases to the three investigators and highly praises them. He signed and gave three investigators three green cards on which following text was written- “This certifies that the bearer is a Volunteer Junior Assistant Deputy co-operating with the police force of Rocky Beach. Any assistance given him will be appreciated.”
Terrier Doyle (known as Shutki Terry)
'Shutki' (Bengali: শুঁটকি) refers to someone very thin, in a crude sense. Terry is the arch rival of Tin Goyenda (In the original series- Skinny Norris. He is a few years older than Jupe, Pete and Bob. Unlike the three investigators, he had a driver's license. He got it from a state where the required age for a license was younger. Whenever he comes to Rocky Beach he tries in his crooked methods to prove himself better than the three investigators). Tin Goyenda hates Shutki-Teri very much. Musa hates him the most! He has a team of his own.
Harrison Wagner Fogrampercott (known as Jhamela rampercott)
Jhamela (Bengali: ঝামেলা) refers to troubles. This police constable is one of the leading rival and a complete laugh of Tin Goyenda's sequel series Tin Bondhu (The Three Mates). The rivalry began in a small village called 'Greenhills' where Robin, Musa and Fariha (Cousin of Musa) lived in their childhood and Kishore paid a visit time to time. He has a bad habit of telling the word 'Jhamela' (trouble). In the book 'Ekhaneo Jhamela' (Here's Also Trouble) he was transferred to Gobel beach.
William Bobrampercott
William Bobrampercott is the nephew of police constable Harrison Wagner Fogrampercott. He was mainly mentioned in the series Tin Bondhu. Despite his uncle's rivalry with the young detectives, he was in a great bond with the boys. He also took direct part in some cases of Tin Bondhu.
Hanson (chauffeur of the Rolls-Royce)
Hanson (In the original series- Worthington) is a British chauffeur who drives the Tin Goyenda around in a Rolls-Royce . As time passes, he also becomes a confident and helper in the boys' investigations
Dr. Moon
Dr.Moon is a very talented scientist and also a great enemy of Tin Goyenda.He sometimes appeared in Tin Goyenda books like Somoy Surongo(Time Tunnel)and Time Travel(Time Travel)etc.He have some time machines named Time Travel-1,Time Travel-2,etc.He is not a regular character.
Important places and other things
The headquarters
The headquarters of Tin Goyenda is in Pasha Salvage Yard. It is nothing but a mobile van which Mr. Rashed Pasha bought a long time ago and then forgot about its existence. Tin Goyenda took this chance and made it their headquarters. It is hidden under junk and has several entrances. All the entrances are well hidden and have their own names. Sobuj Fotok Ek (Green Gate One), Dui Surongo (Tunnel Two), Sohoj Tin (Easy Three), Lal Kukur Char (Red Dog Four) are some examples.
Despite its small size, the headquarters accommodates the needs of Tin Goyenda. Apart from sitting space for them, it also contains a darkroom for photo processing, a storage portion for keeping the track of their cases, a periscope, a telephone,a computer,a laboratory etc.
The Rolls-Royce
In the first book, Tin Goyenda, or more specifically Kishore Pasha, won the use of a Rolls-Royce for 30 days by winning a quiz competition. According to the company, Rent-a-car Auto Rental Company, this luxury car was made for a Sheikh in a Middle Eastern country. But when manufacturing was finished the Sheikh had rejected it. From then on, the company had used it as a publicity tool. The Rolls-Royce is a large black and golden luxury vehicle with a telephone and other comforts. Tin Goyenda uses it in the first few books. When the 30 day period was over, they were no longer entitled to use it. But after finding the precious stone Roktochokkhu (The Red Eye), its grateful owner August August (to Tin Goyenda only 'Gus') asked the company to let Tin Goyenda use the Rolls-Royce on his account. Tin Goyenda has been using the vehicle from then on when they needed it. Usually Mr. Hanson, a British-American, drives the car for the company.
Brief history
Tin Goyenda appeared at a time when the Bangladeshi Bengali language book market offered very few juvenile detective novels. Apart from the 'Feluda' series by Satyajit Ray, no contemporary detective series for children were available. In August 1985, the first Tin Goyenda book also named Tin Goyenda hit the market and caught the attention of thousands of thriller-loving young people.
The huge success of the first book paved the way of the next one Konkal Dip (The Skeleton Island). The third installment (Rupali Makorsha-The Silver Spider) maintained the high level of thrill and suspense of the previous books. After receiving tremendous responses from the teenage readers of the series, next books did not take much time to reach the eager hands of the readers. As time went by, publishing of the next book becomes more frequent and later a new book was being published in every month.
Sources
Most of the books were adaptations, with stories adapted from various other books, mostly from western writers. This lack of originality has been criticized as a weakness of the series.
As earlier said,it was created based on The Three Investigators.However, after the series had ended in America Rakib Hasan began to continue the series in Bengali which is Tin Goyenda, based on other detective juvenile thrillers of the west. Here's a list:
First 40-45 stories are from Robert Arthur, Jr's The Three Investigators.These stories have David Christopher on them.
Original 'The Three Investigators (1964-1987)' series published by Random House (world’s largest general-interest trade book publisher) in English had 43 books written by Robert Arthur (10 books), William Arden whose original name was Michael Collins (13 books), Nick West (2 books), M. V. Carey or Mary Virginia Carey (15 books) and Marc Brandel (3 books). These books were very popular and two movies in English language were made after these book series by a German-South African combined film production house. The first movie was ‘The Three Investigators and the Secret of Skeleton Island (2007)’ and then ‘The Three Investigators and the Secret of Terror Castle (2009)’. These two movie plots were slightly different than the books and the story occurring at a modern time when the three investigators had technologies like GPS and cell phone.
There were 11 more books in the next book series called 'The Three Investigators Crime Busters (1989-1990)' two of these crime busters series books were written by original series writers, one by William Arden and another one by Marc Brandel. Other writers of the ‘Crime Busters’ series were Megan Stine and H. William Stine, G.H. Stone, William MacCay and Peter Lerangis.
The stories which have Georgina Parker or Gina for short on them,are from British author Enid Blyton's The Famous Five (1942-1963). She wrote 21 books which were extremely popular. There were television series made after this book series in 1977 and then again in 1995. Now a movie production house has also declared to make movies based on the series. The name Gina and eventually her full characteristics were based on the series. But other characters were transformed into Tin Goyenda by the hand of Rakib Hasan.
In the famous five series there were two brothers and a sister whose cousin was ‘Georgina Kirrin’. Georgina’s father’s name was ‘Quentin Kirrin’. These two brothers & one sister named Julian, Dick & Anne were transformed into the characters of Kishore, Musa & Robin. Their cousin Georgina had the dog named ‘Timmy’ which was called ‘Ruffian or Rafi’ in the ‘Tin Goenda’ series. And though original ‘The Three Investigators’ series were American stories based around Rocky Beach, California, Los Angeles, original ‘Famous Five’ stories were British stories based around Dorset County in South-Eastern England, other sea beach area of English & Welsh counties.Some are from nancy drew stories also likeThe Clue of the Whistling Bagpipes
‘Goenda Raju’ series was also translated from or based on ‘Famous Five’ series. There the Characters were Raju, Opu, Babli & Misha and correctly three siblings & one cousin. As later the Goenda Raju series stories were all converted into ‘Tin Gonda’ books. Therefore, all of the ‘Famous Five’ series books are also present in the Bengali Tin Goenda series.
In stories of Green-hills(a village) the three detectives are much smaller in age and solves small cases(most of the time police helps them).In these stories Musa,Robin and Fariha(Musa's cousin) lives in Greenhills.Kishore lives in Rocky Beach and have a dog named Titu.These stories are from The Five Find-Outers,another juvenile series by Enid Blyton. The first story of The Five Find-Outers,The mystery of the Burnt Cottage which was adopted into Jhamela signifies the origin of Tin Goyenda.
Like the stories from The Five Find-Outers,some other stories are based Greenhills.But these stories don't have five on them but seven members.These stories are adopted from yet Enid Blyton's another fictional series The Secret Seven.The dissimilarity between stories of above and these are:in these stories Kishore lives in Greenhills and they forms a detective group named Lodhosh which prefers Rohossho Vedi Dol in Bengali. The seven members are: Kishore, Musa, Robin, Misha (Kishore's cousin), Anita, Doly and Bob. These stories also feature Bably, a cousin of Musa and Nina (Bably's friend) who always interrupt in their case.
Stories with Dick Curter(known as Uncle Dick) are adopted from Enid Blyton's juvenile series The Adventure Series.
Enid Blyton's another series named The Faraway Tree was adopted into some Tin Goyenda books.Shamsuddin Nawab wrote some short stories based on this series' first novel The Enchanted Wood,with some editing leaving some magical creatures from the original novel,out from the adopted one.However,these books were highly criticized by the Tin Goyenda fans.
Christopher Pike's Spooksville series of 24 books were adopted into 24 Tin Goyenda horror stories. These stories has a new character named Roda and the stories are based on the city called Death City,which is Roda's hometown.On the first story Rashed Pasha buys a house on the city and on the following ones Tin Goyenda often come here in the vacations.The city is full of mystery and paranormal things.These stories also features two special character named Tom,the friendly and knowledgeable homeless ex-mayor of Deathcity and a town witch. Christopher Pike’s books are young adult fictions, horror and vampire stories as well. Christopher Pike whose original name is Kevin Christopher McFadden wrote 75 books from 1985 to 2007.
For others Rakib Hasan used many juvenile English series.The most notable one is The Hardy Boys. ‘Romhorshok or Reza-Shuza book series’ were translated from ‘Hardy Boys’ where the boys are little older than the boys of original ‘the Three Investigators’ series and they participated in seemingly more dangerous missions. But as ‘Romhorshok’ series books were also later converted into ‘Tin Gonda’ books, so Bengali Tin Goenda series has also got translated ‘Hardy Boys series’ books in it. From 1927 till today (2014), 489 books have been published in the ‘Hardy Boys’ books series.
For few books of volume, the writer Rakib Hasan used Tipu Kibria's Kishore Horror series, which was ended due to less popularity. After writing for more than a decade, Rakib Hasan departed from Sheba Prokashoni and Shamsuddin Nawab took the duty to continue.Shamsuddin Nawab showed some talents on the beginning.But as the time goes he began to bore Tin Goyenda fans writing stories which are very small and not suitable for the teen-agers rather than kindergarten kids.Rumor has it,Shamsuddin Nawab is no other than the Sheba Prokashoni head Qazi Anwar Hussain,but its yet to be confirmed. In August 2015, on the occasion of Tin Goyenda's 30 year anniversary, it was revealed in Kishor Alo (a monthly youngsters' magazine), that Shamsuddin Nawab is actually Qazi Shahnur Hossain; who is Qazi Anwar Hussain's son.
Trademark
When the first met Davis Christopher they showed him a card. Like This:
Everyone, at first, questions about the 3 question mark (???). Then they answered the question and talk some extra time by it. Actually it is a trick of Kishore Pasha. He thought that anyone who will see their card will ask questions and by the questions they can talk more time with the man/woman. This trick of Kishore Pasha worked perfectly!
It is also a trademark of them. When they got into any trouble, left a sign of question mark. Then others find him by it. Many times it saved their life!
External links
- listing of Tin Goyenda books available online
- Know from Which Books Tin Goyenda Converted
- Facebook page about Tin Goyenda