<blockquote>This story by J.C. Bose (1858-1937) is regarded as one of the first works of early science fiction in the Bangla language, and one of the first science fiction stories in India. It was first published in 1896 as "Niruddesher Kahini" ("The Story of the Missing One"), the winning entry in the Kuntalin Story Competition. Kuntalin was a popular hair oil at this time. The inventor and owner of the oil, Hemendramohan Basu, instituted a promotional annual fiction competition from 1896 onwards, with the precondition that the story would have to feature the hair oil and promote it.</blockquote>
