Most know the characters he made, but almost none know his name - Sharadindu Bandyopadhyay, born on the 30th of March 1899. Born in Jaunpur, but with a family residence in Purnia, he would enrol in Calcutta - quite a traveller - and quickly get interested in writing. Studying law, but never quite getting attached to it, Sharadindu then moved to writing as a complete career.

However, his most stunning icon to Bengali story writing would be Detective Byomkesh Bakshi, a ‘truth seeker’ by his name. A Sherlock Holmes-esque character, he is quite unfazed by complicated cases, usually solving murders with a penchant for extreme observation, logical reasoning, forensic science and other modern techniques of crime-solving.

His first appearance, in the 1932 Satyanweshi (truth seeker), would make him an immensely popular character, being a fluent smoker, and well versed in Hindi and English apart from his native Bangla. He names himself the Inquisitor, the truth-seeker, then the investigator. What was most interesting about Sharadindu’s characters was that, unlike other detective stories, Byomkesh Bakshi aged over time as the books came, he married, had kids, and contemplated domestic life and buying material things apart from the case requirements - a rarity in any Indian character arc.

This character has since been copied in countless films, TV shows, and used to base off other works as well, and has become one of the most recognizable characters. In fact, his name has entered the Bengali language to either describe someone intelligent or sarcastically for someone stating the obvious.