We Bongs are absolutely obsessed with detective stories.I got introduced to the term private investigator very early in my childhood courtesy of iconic literary characters like Feluda & Kakababu. Our weekend afternoons & holidays would not have been interesting without these amazing sleuth novels and stories. Its curious how peace loving and rather harmless bengalis found interest in the shadowy lanes of crime & mystery. But the collective interest in the genre can be easily tracked by the amount of quality literary content in this section. Let me introduce you to some of the most well known characters from the Bong sleuth multiverse. Satyajit Ray’s creation “Feluda” aka Pradosh Chandra Mitter is aimed at child audiences. A quintessential Bengali who loves to travel, eat, limits physical workout to only yoga in the morning & has but only one vice of smoking cigarette. His satellite is cousin “Topse”, friend and companion Lal Mohan Ganguly injects much needed humour into the plot. Next is “Kakababu” aka Raja Roy Chowdhury by Sunil Gangopadhyay, a retired researcher/geologist who lost a leg in an accident in Afganistan. But what he lacks in physique is compensated by courage & intelligence. “Santu” his satellite and nephew provide the legs in the adventures they undertake. This character is also targeted at teenage audiences. Coming to mature content, Byomkesh Bakshi created by Saradindu Bandopadhyay likes to be called himself “Satyanweshi” – seeker of truth rather than a detective & has friend Ajit Bandopadhyay as his satellite. Unlike the former two characters this is set in the pre independence era and delves into the darker corners of crime psychology. Couple of other characters are also very popular and deserve their name in the list. First being Sabar Dasgupta by Shirshendu Mukhopadhay who is a cop at Lalbazar. The next one is Kiriti Roy by Dr. Nihar Rajan Gupta who smokes pipe like Sherlock & has friend Subrata Roy accompanying him in his endeavors. There is a lot more in this genre..but the ones I mentioned are most popular. Do explore this amazing world of Bong detective stories & I promise that you won’t be disappointed.