I had read this book in Kannada translation titled " Maha Yathrika" by Ahobala Shankara, when I was 15-16 years old. I was mesmarised by this book ever since my first reading and its characters continues to haunt me even after fifty years or so! . The author Vibuthi Bhushan depicts poignantly the life revolving around a hapless family struggling to make a living in a remote Bengali village. It captures vividly various pathos of life encountered by two little innocent lives, Apu and Durga. There is bountiness of nature entwined and intervening in the lives of these two little ones occasionally showering her riches and raising the hopes for a better but ever eluding tomarow! Captured in moving words by the great Vibuthi Bhushan Bandyopadyay, none can match his simplicity, innosence and fertile imagination. Infact, according to Satyajit Ray he lived a life of a saint in poverty and had disdain for money. Indeed, Pather Panchali’ -the Apu trilogy as a film was applauded worldwide. No wonder, during the seventies, this gem of a novel was prescribed as a supplimentary reader in kannada vernacular for the first year degree classes in Karnataka. It is no exageration to say this is an unmatched literary work in any language.