Consider the following statements about "The Adventures of Kakababu, Volume 1" by Sunil Gangopadhyaya: 1) A pioneering Bengali adventure novel featuring detective Kakababu with mystery and cultural themes. 2) A political satire on post-independence Indian governance. 3) An autobiography of the author’s freedom fighter experiences in Bengal. Which of the above statements is/are correct?
- (a)Only statement 1 is correct
- (b)Only statement 2 is correct
- (c)Statements 2 and 3 are correct
- (d)1, 2 and 3 are correct
Answer
Why
Correct — A. Kakababu, Raja Roy Chowdhury, is Sunil Gangopadhyay's fictional adventurer, a man who walks with a crutch and solves crimes with his nephew Sontu. The series began in the 1971 Puja issue of Anandamela with Bhoyonkor Sundor.
That is statement 1. The book is neither political satire nor an autobiography, so statements 2 and 3 fail → option (a).
Why the others are wrong
- (b)Only statement 2 is correct — Kakababu is adventure fiction for children, a series Sunil Gangopadhyay began in 1971 with Bhoyonkor Sundor, not a political satire on post-independence governance.
- (c)Statements 2 and 3 are correct — Neither holds. The book is invented adventure, not satire, and it is no autobiography: its hero is a fictional character, Raja Roy Chowdhury.
- (d)1, 2 and 3 are correct — Statements 2 and 3 are false. A novel about a fictional adventurer cannot be the author's autobiography, and its genre is adventure, not political satire.
Concept
Sunil Gangopadhyay (1934-2012), a Bengali poet and novelist, won the Sahitya Akademi Award in 1985 for Sei Somoy (Those Days) and became president of the Sahitya Akademi in 2008.
For children he created Kakababu, Raja Roy Chowdhury, who walks with a crutch and travels with his nephew Sontu. Several of the stories were filmed, among them Sabuj Dwiper Raja (1979) and Mishawr Rawhoshyo (2013).
The stem calls Kakababu a detective. He is usually described as an adventurer who solves crimes, so read statement 1 for its genre, a Bengali adventure series, which is what makes it true.
Key facts
- Kakababu first appeared in the 1971 Puja issue of Anandamela, in Bhoyonkor Sundor.
- Sunil Gangopadhyay won the 1985 Sahitya Akademi Award for Sei Somoy (Those Days).
- Kakababu's real name is Raja Roy Chowdhury, and he travels with his nephew Sontu.
- Gangopadhyay was born in 1934 in Faridpur district, now in Bangladesh, and died in 2012.
Study next
Common traps
- Linking a Bengali author to freedom-struggle memoirs by region alone.
- Rejecting statement 1 because Kakababu is usually called an adventurer rather than a detective.
Here a book is tested by matching it to its genre, with two decoy statements that describe different kinds of book. The same statement-checking form is used on another title at 16 Sep 2025, 12:30, GA Q.9, on Pavan K. Varma's Being Indian (keyed Only statement 1 is correct).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.