Bonku Babu's Friend by Satyajit Ray
Quick answer: Bonku Babu's Friend by Satyajit Ray, ICSE Class 9 Treasure Chest: the mocked teacher of Kankurgachhi, the alien Ang from Craneus, the ending at Sripati Babu's, exam notes.
A mild schoolteacher who has swallowed twenty years of jokes at his expense walks home through a bamboo grove and finds a glowing visitor from another planet waiting to talk to him.
Satyajit Ray (1921 to 1992), the filmmaker, published this Bengali story in 1962; it appears in translation in the ICSE Class 9 Treasure Chest anthology.
The story in brief
Bonku Babu teaches geography and Bengali at the primary school in Kankurgachhi. Gentle and fond of travel books, he is the butt of every joke at Sripati Majumdar's evening gatherings and laughs along because he cannot bear to be left out. One evening talk turns to a light seen falling into Poncha Ghosh's bamboo grove. Walking home through it, Bonku Babu finds a spacecraft and a creature named Ang from the planet Craneus.
Ang speaks Bengali after a moment's study, calls Earth an inferior planet and this town a place of no importance, and yet treats Bonku Babu with a respect nobody else has shown him. Ang shows him distant parts of the world and leaves. The next evening Bonku Babu walks into Sripati Babu's gathering a changed man. He tells the company plainly what he thinks of their cruelty, declares he will not come again, and leaves them silent.
The people in it
A victim, his tormentors, and a visitor.
- Bonku Babu: kind, curious, timid, a man whose interest in the world exceeds his life.
- Sripati Majumdar: the wealthy host whose gatherings run on humiliating Bonku Babu.
- Ang: the visitor from Craneus, superior, brisk and oddly respectful.
- The regulars: men who need a target.
Themes and meaning
Exam readings include bullying and self-respect, curiosity as a virtue, and the outsider who sees a person clearly. The sharper point is that Ang changes nothing about Bonku Babu's circumstances; he changes only how Bonku Babu values himself, and that alone rewrites the evening at Sripati Babu's.
The craft: the visitor as mirror
Ray spends the first half on ordinary humiliation so that the extraordinary visitor lands in a life we know. The turn is Ang's respect, not his spaceship. The ending returns to the same room as the opening with one variable changed, the man himself, which is the cleanest way to show growth. Writers can steal the mirror-visitor and the return to the first setting.
For the exam
Quick material for ICSE Class 9.
- Word meanings: butt of jokes, target of ridicule; mimic, imitate mockingly; grove, small wood; inferior, of lower quality; regale, entertain; timid, lacking courage.
- Character sketch of Bonku Babu in 60 words: A primary school teacher of geography and Bengali in Kankurgachhi, Bonku Babu is gentle, well read and hungry for the wide world he will never see. For years he has endured the mockery of Sripati Majumdar's circle rather than lose their company. His meeting with the alien Ang, who treats him with respect, gives him the confidence to speak his mind at last.
- Q: Why did Bonku Babu tolerate the jokes for so long? A: He feared loneliness more than humiliation and laughed along to remain part of the gathering.
- Q: How did Ang change him? A: By treating him as worth talking to and showing him the world, Ang gave him a sense of his own value.
- Q: How does the story end? A: Bonku Babu confronts the men at Sripati Babu's house, refuses to return, and walks home free.
- Summary in 100 words: Bonku Babu, a timid schoolteacher in Kankurgachhi, is mocked nightly at Sripati Majumdar's gatherings and laughs along to keep their company. After talk of a strange light, he walks home through Poncha Ghosh's bamboo grove and meets Ang, a visitor from the planet Craneus, who learns Bengali instantly, dismisses Earth as inferior, yet treats Bonku Babu with real respect and shows him faraway places he has only read about. The next evening Bonku Babu tells Sripati Babu's circle exactly what he thinks of their cruelty, announces he will never return, and walks home a free man.
What writers can take from this
- Establish the pattern of mockery before describing Ang; the alien matters because of what came before.
- Say precisely what Ang gives Bonku Babu: respect and a view of the world, not power.
- Describe the final scene as a return to the opening setting with one thing changed.
- Writers, use an outsider as a mirror rather than as a rescuer.
- End where you began and let the character's difference be the only plot.
Try it yourself
Write a story about someone who has accepted a small daily humiliation for years and meets a stranger who, without solving anything, treats them as important. End the story back in the room where the humiliation happens, with the character speaking for the first time.
Questions
What is the theme of Bonku Babu's Friend?
Self-respect and the harm of casual bullying. Bonku Babu endures ridicule until an alien visitor, Ang, treats him with respect and widens his view of the world, after which he finds the courage to confront his tormentors and leave them.
Who is Ang in Bonku Babu's Friend?
A visitor from the planet Craneus whose craft lands in Poncha Ghosh's bamboo grove. He learns Bengali quickly, regards Earth as an inferior planet, and yet speaks to Bonku Babu as an equal, showing him distant places and changing how he sees himself.
How does Bonku Babu's Friend end?
Bonku Babu goes to Sripati Majumdar's gathering, tells the men frankly how badly they have treated him, announces he will not return, and walks home feeling lighter than he has in years.
By the Writory editorial team, reviewed by working writers. Updated September 2026.
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