Rokib Hasan: The man whose death we do not accept

“Hello, young friends—This is Kishore Pasha speaking, from Rocky Beach, USA. The place is in Los Angeles, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, just a few miles from Hollywood. For those who still don’t know who we are, we are three friends who have opened a detective agency, called 'Three Detectives'."

As a child, every time I read any book from the "Tin Goyenda" series, meaning "Three Detectives", I used to read this familiar introduction written at the beginning. I read it so often that I had memorised it, yet I would still read it every time. Reading it always sent a strange thrill through my body and mind. I used to think of myself as Kishore Pasha. I loved Musa Aman and Robin Milford too; but Kishore Pasha, the leader of the Three Detectives, was my favourite. When Kishore Pasha thought deeply, he pinched his lower lip; without realising it, that habit became one of my own quirks too.

It was a time in the mid-nineties — there were no mobile phones, no internet, Facebook or YouTube were beyond imagination. There was only one television channel — BTV. So the only ways to spend our leisure were playing games or reading books. But you can’t play all the time; books, however, can always be read. Especially on rainy days when going outside was forbidden, books were our only company. We hadn’t yet reached Humayun Ahmed, Imdadul Haq Milan, Sunil Gangopadhyay or Samaresh Majumdar. And adults’ books were mostly off-limits for children. Apart from textbooks, what we, as teenagers, had in our hands then were books from Sheba Prokashoni. When I was in class seven or eight, I hadn’t yet started reading the Masud Rana series. I was completely absorbed in Three Detectives as if addicted. And on the cover of every book was a writer’s name — Rokib Hasan!

Who was this Rokib Hasan! There was no Google then to search and see his picture. I had never seen his photo in newspapers either. I saw Rokib Hasan’s photo much later, when I had almost stopped reading Three Detectives. Even then I was thrilled to see this childhood hero. We truly believed Rokib Hasan wasn’t a Bangladeshi, or even from this planet. As if from another world he appeared before us with the strange, mysterious stories of Three Detectives.

Silver Spider, Mummy, Ratnadano, Roktochokhshu, Sea Beach, Pirate Island-1, Pirate Island-2, Lost Whale, Death Mystery, Cockatoo Mystery — what names for each book! Just hearing them gave you goosebumps! In one story, Kishore was trapped inside a coffin by a gang of thugs, and that’s where the first part ended. How terrible! The following days passed in excitement waiting for the second part. How would Kishore Pasha escape from that coffin! It’s impossible to explain to today’s boys and girls what "Three Detectives" meant to us! The whole world, the entire universe seemed hidden inside their mysteries!

The Three Detectives’ headquarters was inside a mobile van. Kishore Pasha’s uncle, Rashed Pasha, had bought it long ago. The van lay buried under a pile of scrap in Pasha Salvage Yard. Rashed Pasha was a dealer in old scrap metal and furniture. His two drivers, Boris and Rover — two brothers with immense strength — always came to the detectives’ aid in times of danger. How we loved those two brothers! And we loved their friend Gina too. Whenever the detectives needed to uncover a secret, they sent Gina to work. The detectives had a funny information network called “Ghost to Ghost.” That meant one friend would phone a few others to ask if any strange incident had happened in their area. In this way they got secret news from faraway places. And not just Gina — we also loved Terrier Doyle, known to the detectives as Shuntki Terry. Musa couldn’t stand him. He was always good at causing trouble; yet any book that had "Shutki Terry" in it felt extra special to us. When the detectives got caught in some difficult mess, Victor Simon, a professional detective, would come forward to help. And the Rocky Beach Police Chief, Captain Ian Fletcher, was always worried about their safety. He would repeatedly warn them not to take on dangerous projects, but the fearless trio often plunged into terrifying mysteries without informing him. Afterwards, of course, they would get affectionate scolding from the Chief. After each complex mystery was solved, Hollywood’s famous director Davis Christopher would listen to every detail from them, as he made films based on those stories. The character Davis Christopher was actually modelled on the legendary filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.

The first few stories of the "Three Detectives" series were written based on foreign detective tales; later Rokib Hasan wrote original stories himself. He probably wrote over a hundred Three Detectives books. Later Shamsuddin Nawab wrote some too. Altogether about two hundred and fifty to three hundred books were published. Some were long novels, others longer stories. The paperback editions cost 25–30 taka. Later the books began to appear as volumes, each containing three stories. Each volume cost 50 to 80 taka. We could buy them by saving our tiffin money. And Sheba Prokashoni’s books were available in nearby libraries, at bus and train stations, even at newspaper stalls. Because they were within reach, both in hand and in price, Sheba’s books were very popular. Among them Three Detectives was the most popular of all. Especially for school students, "Three Detectives" and "Rahasya Patrika" were dearer than chocolates or ice-cream. Readers of "Three Detectives" later became readers of "Masud Rana".

Let me say this — many people start reading stories and novels only after growing up. Those who grew up in the nineties but didn’t read "Three Detectives", though later read many other books — we never quite enjoyed talking literature with them. Because when you start reading only after growing up, you gain knowledge perhaps, but not that joy of childhood reading, not that nostalgia. Somehow the tune doesn’t match.

To today’s school students, "Three Detectives" may no longer be so popular. My niece Pushpo is in class eight. She’s a very good student and reads storybooks too, but she’s quite selective. I asked her, “How many Three Detectives books have you read?” She said, “One.” I asked, “Which one?” She said, Cockatoo Mystery. I asked, “How did you like it?” She said, “Quite good, a little scary. Though I wasn’t that scared.”

But I read "Cockatoo Mystery" on a winter night hiding under a quilt! Today’s generation really can’t understand that feeling. For us, the world of imagination was much larger and more wonderful than the real world! Three Detectives expanded my childhood imagination! We never thought those stories were false or made-up — we truly believed there were three detectives living in America. We even used to write letters to Rahasya Patrika. Reading those letters was itself a joyful experience.

Today the creator of "Three Detectives", Rokib Hasan, has left us. He had been suffering from kidney disease for a long time. His son, Rahid Hasan, told the media that he took his father to hospital this afternoon for dialysis. Right after the dialysis, he passed away. Rokib Hasan was 74 years old; but to us, he will remain forever young. For us, he has not died. He is our childhood hero. Just as Rokib Hasan will live on in our hearts forever, so will his "Three Detectives" — Kishore Pasha, Robin Milford, and Musa Aman. They too will never grow old. Whenever we pick up a Three Detectives book, we too will stop growing. Again, on some lazy afternoon or lonely night, when work or study won’t hold our attention, perhaps we’ll randomly pick up a Three Detectives book, and forgetting all the bitterness of life, we’ll return to our mysterious childhood — to Rocky Beach, America, joining the "Three Detectives" in solving a complex mystery. And will not Rokib Hasan be there with us then?