Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay wrote 32 Byomkesh stories between 19, with one additional story remaining incomplete at the time of his death. Though mentally and physically fit, he would like to retire but was helpless as long as a vast number of Bengali readers kept wanting to read more of him. In a 1969 interview, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay worried about Byomkesh - he was now 60 years old (10 years younger than his creator). But, on a visit to Calcutta, he discovered that Bengalis still hankered for his hero graciously, he returned to Byomkesh and stayed with him till the end of his life. He did not write another Byomkesh story for 16 years and settled in Bombay as a writer for Himanshu Roy’s Bombay Talkies. He married him off (an almost unheard-of thing for detectives across the world) and thought that was the end of it. In 1936, in only his tenth outing, Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, wanted to retire Byomkesh. The books are written in classical Bengali, with a mood of noir - fast, gripping, uncompromising in their portrayal of violence or lust, with touches of wry humour. The stories are chronicled by Ajit, a writer who meets Byomkesh in Satyanweshi. The first story appeared in print in 1932.

īyomkesh’s only addiction is smoking, he has no musical ear to speak of, but like many modern young Bengalis of the time, and a passion for football like any other bengali (especially for mohunbagan,as he is a ghoti) he has a solid grasp over Bengali literature and a working knowledge of the Sanskrit classics, from which both he and Ajit quote freely. Unlike many other fictional detectives, Byomkesh ages, marries, has a son, starts a publishing firm with his assistant-cum-chronicler Ajit (he makes a more stable income from this than from his seeking of the truth), buys a house in South Calcutta, and ponders buying a car for his wife Satyabati (note that ‘satya’ occurs here again). He preferred the term satyanweshi, meaning seeker of truth.

Byomkesh bakshi