The scorching summer sun that forces kids to call off their morning football session, a lunch of staple rice, dal and vegetables or the occasional fish preceded by raw mango coolers and succeeded by cut pieces of ‘bainganfali’ mango common to Bengal. This sums up the daily life in a Bengali household each day of the long summer vacation in schools for years. What usually followed next? For many years it was adventures of Byomkesh Bakshi rerun on movie channels to keep the kids and mothers busy on summer or otherwise afternoons as the solitary hawker or passer-by crosses the house immersed in silence! Yes, the power of witty literature transformed onto the silver screen has weaved magic for its spectators for decades now. What amazes us most is the timelessness of the character Byomkesh- years later, as I sit on a sunny winter morning to recapitulate the filmography of this much-loved character. Bakshi da is evergreen, loved by generations alike and a man for all seasons to...