A tribute to Rakib Hasan

In the mid ‘80s, Dhaka was a slow-paced city, almost like a large district town. 

Life revolved around one TV channel!

Radio programmes had avid listeners, tuning to BBC during any political upheaval was common along with the name Mark Tully.

BTV provided the late evening thrills through A Team, Highway to Heaven, Hart to Hart, Simon and Simon or Knight Rider.

Going to the second hand clothes market in Gulisthan at the end of October to buy winter clothes was a common middle class ritual. 

And yes, everyone passed their leisure time reading books. 

Whether one read Harold Robbins, James Hadley Chase, Masud Rana or Feluda, the habit of reading was common. 

Late afternoon quiet moments were spent lost in a world of fiction. 

Teen Goenda arrives to conquer teen hearts: Sometime around 1985, the thrill level went up as Teen Goenda, the teen detective thriller series, came to the market. 

The late Rakib Hasan was the writer, who was already familiar to Sheba Prokashoni readers.

Rakib Hasan had translated several classics into Bangla and his Bengali version of Dracula was a runaway best seller. 

Then, in late 1984, Hasan was instrumental in reviving Sheba Prokashoni’s monthly magazine Rahashya Potrika. 

Rahaysha Potrika first came out in the early 70s but was later discontinued. 

However, in 1984, with many Indian magazines like Shuktara, Anandamela, Ultoroth enjoying popularity in Bangladesh, Hasan felt the time was right to revive the lost gem.  

Rahashya Potrika came out with a bang!

The first edition had the picture of Dracula on the cover and countless young teens were instantly hooked. 

Arguably, Rakib Hasan’s most significant gift to teen fiction was Teen Goenda, loosely based on the Three Investigators, which first appeared in the USA in 1964. 

But the writer did some re-arrangement and included a Bengali American among the three, called Kishore Pasha (Jupiter Jones in Three Investigators).

Konkaal Dwip, Rupali Makorsha, Mummy, PretSadhona, Murtir Hunkar - the books came one after the other and the void of Bangladeshi teen fiction was filled. 

During tiffin break or while at the playing field in the afternoon, this series became the topic of conversation.  

We exchanged views on the latest edition of the series, got together and hopped on the number 6 bus from Maghbazaar to go to Mouchak to buy the latest editions. 

Those who wanted to read the English ones, made a beeline in front of Zeenat Bookstore in New Market to buy the Three Investigators. 

Although many of the plots were taken from the Three Investigators, the popularity of Teen Goenda soared because it had a prominent Bangladeshi dimension to it, referring to the country, her heritage, art and, most of all, the cuisine. 

Come to think of it, amidst the sporadic political turmoil of the ‘80s, these books were like an oasis. 

School libraries began keeping the series and, interestingly, Teen Goenda was the most sought after at the book hiring spots. 

Those who could not or did not want to buy all the books could deposit Tk 20 and then hire a book, displayed on a trunk, for Tk. 2.  

Teen Goenda inspired The Secret Pumas: Now here’s where our link to Rakib Hasan’s Teen Goenda becomes more than just seeking thrill in the pages of fiction. 

If three teens can form a group and find excitement then why can’t we, said one of my friends, Imtiaz Alam Beg, now an eminent  photographer. 

Absolutely, why not, I responded and with Asif and Kanak, two of our buddies, we formed The Secret Pumas – an investigation group. 

The time was sometime near the end of 1986 – winter was approaching, Dhaka took a still but hauntingly surreal look and we were out looking for something unconventional. 

And we found it in a very mysterious man living in Old Dhaka. 

Imti had met him first, a guy in his late thirties, who lived in an impregnable house amidst the cacophony of the old part of the city. 

Let’s call him Mr S. 

We were invited by Mr S to his place and, one late December afternoon, off we went to meet him. 

Three of us in a rickshaw, Imti on my racing bike!

The first question, which emerged in our minds: why is Mr S interested to meet us?

Anyway, at his home while he was downstairs arranging a snack for us, we got into action. 

Two guys were on the look-out while the other two swiftly checked all items in the room. 

Nope, nothing suspicious!

Well, we left Mr S after a hearty snack but somewhere deep in our minds, the niggling suspicion lingered: why us? 

As with many experiences in my life, this was not the end.

In fact, this was just the beginning. 

At regular intervals, we came across Mr S at different city locations and, every time, he had a young companion. 

On one occasion in 1990, saw him with a large group of young men in front of the Dhaka SSC and HSC Board office. 

That too, at 3 am in the morning. 

While Mr S puzzled us, we managed to crack another case in which we discovered a leather bag filled with shot-gun cartridges. 

Actually, the bag filled with the cartridges was lying in my grandmother’s sprawling home and people forgot about it. 

In our excitement, we turned it into a treasure hunt!

Whichever way you want to look at it, the bottom line remains: we found our treasure!

After one of our Secret Puma meetings at the Ramna Park, we began trailing a very attractive young girl who appeared disoriented. 

Imti went and spoke to her. 

‘Can you give me some water,’ she said. 

Well, in a time before plastic bottles of mineral water, we could only take her to the nearby tap. 

Eager to help, we also contacted the policemen on duty who had a sly grin on his face. 

It became clear a little later that the woman in question was a ‘regular’ and, in the words of the policeman: ‘in the trade’. 

In one audacious caper, we managed to develop a friendship with a girl who was locked in her room because she had the habit of running away with her boyfriend, whose name by the way, was White.

The communication with the lady was from one window to another! 

Anyway, on a dark night, she managed to bribe the guard to flee with Mr White. 

We were left completely blue!

Well, The Secret Pumas was never officially disbanded but as we went different ways, the thrill seeking body slipped into oblivion. 

But as long as it lasted, our lives were all about living like the Teen Goenda characters. 

Oh, I forgot, one fine winter evening in 1986, my pal Bachu and I went with a stack of English books taken from our family library to Sheba Prokashoni so they would translate them and publish in Bangla. 

Among the books was one of my favourites, the Famous Five book: Five Go off to Camp, a book about five teens who unravel the mystery of ghost trains, which appear late at night and disappear into a tunnel without any rail tracks. 

That book also came out as a Teen Goenda adventure so our mission to Sheba was not a failure. 

As Rakib Hasan, the writer of Teen Goenda passes away on October 1?, the memories of the mid ‘80s remain vivid. 

Without him, teenage would have been a little less pulsating and there wouldn’t be any Secret Pumas. 

I still meet Imti from time to time and we reminisce about the past, while talking about our escapades, there’s always a twinkle in his eyes.

Maybe he also sees a glint of excitement in me too. 

Maybe, in honour of Rakib Hasan and, as a tribute to Teen Goenda, we may team up again for one last Secret Puma exploit!

The writer is a former journalist!

Towheed.FEROZE@eeas.europa.eu