“What is ludicrous, what is strange, what is impossible – this is about them. This is about where imagination can take you, and if you cannot go there, this book isn’t for you.” So said Sukumar Ray, as an introduction to his book of nonsensical poetry Abol Tabol.

Perhaps it was this very ability to take nonsensical verse and characters seriously, that led the Nabin Palli Durga Puja Committee in Hatibagan (North Kolkata) to re-create scenes, rhymes, and nonsense verse from the pages of Abol Tabol on the streets of Hatibagan.

As a text Ray’s Abol Tabol celebrates a hundred years, an apt time perhaps to re-imagine this flight of fantasy, and let it spill over as a breathing piece of art onto the streets of Kolkata. It wouldn’t be presumptuous to say that what artist Anirban Das has done here with the text (many of which are also taken from Ray’s unpublished poems) and the art is part re-imagining and part giving the old text a new life by putting it out there on the streets for people to interact with it, while they go about their daily business.

The pandal replicates the facade of the house where Sukumar Ray lived. As I walked into the lane leading to it, entire buildings, office spaces, shops, balconies, and pavements, everything seemed to have turned into a page from Ray’s imagined world of caricatures. Just that instead of being within a page, here they spring at you in the form of life-sized images, poking fun, laughing, almost nudging you to explore this strange world with them.

'Here the stories have no meaning, no sense, no head nor tail – still you must laugh.' | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.

Coming to life

The idol of the goddess Durga, placed in an enclosure at the end of the lane, is a room that serves as a printing press. Das told me that the Ray family, which published the children’s magazine Sandesh for many years had a long relationship with the printing press, which is where he takes his inspiration from. He added that the theme of publishing, writing and the imagination is extended here from Durga the deity to the tradition of the Pujo Barshiki, literary supplements that have been the rage in Bengal for many years now – a special compilation of writings published during Durga Puja. A few other creative liberties have been taken with the sketches, mostly in order to suit the poems.

'What if a rascal sits in the middle, I don't know what to do, which tail do I swat him with, of tails I have but two.' | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.

As you enter the half-kilometre-long lane that has become the scene for this play of imagination, you are overcome by strange creatures, mixed lines, and laughter. The above picture has a character from the poem Huko Mukho Hangla (হুঁকোমুখো হ্যাংলা), a creature that sings all day, seen contemplating on how to best kill a fly that constantly sits on its back, and wondering which of its two tails to use.

A picture of Sukumar Ray. It is a hundred years since his death. | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.
A sketch and some lines from Sukumar Ray’s poem 'Notebook' (নোটবই). | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.
Kumro Potash (কুমড়ো পটাশ), an imaginary character from Ray’s poems. The sketch is reimagined based on the text. | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.
Buildings and shop walls have become the canvas. | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.
An electrical installation has been converted into a strange animal from Sukumar Ray’s book. | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.
A character from a poem, The Head Clerk from the Office (হেড অফিস এর বড় বাবু). | Photo credit: Maitreyee B Chowdhury.

But if you thought that the fun and creativity ended with the scenes on display, be prepared for more. The Pujo Committee has planned a street play adaptation of Abol Tabol, where characters dressed up as katukutu buro (tickling old man) and such others will treat unsuspecting visitors to funny poems, nonsense, and satire.

If there is such a thing as living literature on the streets, this is definitely it.