Diego Alvarez (Chander Pahar)

Diego Alvarez is a fictional character in the Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay's novel Chander Pahar. He is a Portuguese explorer and Gold / Diamond Prospector. He acts as a friend and mentor to Shankar Roy Chowdhury, and together they try to explore the deepest reaches of Richtersveld for the Mountain of the Moon. His name isn't really Portuguese but Spanish, the correct form in Portuguese would have been Diogo Álvares.

Diego Alvarez
A portrait of Alvarez from Chander Pahar novel.
First appearanceChander Pahar (novel)
Chander Pahar (film)
Created byBibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay
Portrayed byGérard Rudolf (In film)
Cause of deathKilled by Bunyip
In-universe information
AliasAlvarez
SpeciesHuman
GenderMale
OccupationExplorer
Gold / Diamond Prospector
RelativesShankar Roy Chowdhury (Friend)
NationalityPortuguese

Background

One day in African jungle Shankar rescues and nurses Diego Alvarez. His arrival becomes a turning point in Shankar's life. While recuperating, Alvarez narrated his earlier exploits in Africa with his friend Jim Carter. Lured by a priceless, uncut yellow diamond gifted by the Chief of a Kaafi village, Alvarez and Carter had resolved to find the cave of these yellow diamonds, located on the Mountain of the Moon- Chander Pahar- in the Richtersveld, which was believed to be guarded by the mythical monster, the Bunyip. The explorers set off, much against the villagers' advice, braved the dense jungle and hostile environment but met with disaster- for Carter was gruesomely killed, supposedly by the Bunyip.

In Richtersveld

Shankar, highly inspired by Alvarez's exploits, resigns from his job and accompanies Alvarez as they decide to venture out once more and find the mines . They meet with innumerable hardships, and come across the raging volcano called Ol Doinyo Lengai. But the volcano was uncharted by the world outside, thus making Shankar and Alvarez its first discoverers. Eventually, they get lost in the forests where Alvarez suffers death at the hands of a mysterious monster, the same that had taken Carter’s life, the Bunyip.

Legacy

After returning from the Mountain of the Moon Shankar wrote an article for a local newspaper where he refers to the Ol Doinyo Lengai volcano as Mount. Alvarez.

In other media

Film

In the film- Chander Pahar or Mountain of the Moon Alvarez's character is portrayed by South African actor Gérard Rudolf.[1]

Graphic novel

Diego Alvarez appeared in the 2014 graphic novel Moon Mountain as the friend of protagonist Shankar.[2][3][4][5]

gollark: My server only has 4GB of RAM and this happens irritatingly often.
gollark: Like this: `*************`.
gollark: Don't worry, Discord will replace the password with asterisks.
gollark: None are safe.
gollark: It is currently piloting several attack drones.

References
  1. "Chander Pahar crew at South Africa".
  2. "Moon Mountain". Penguin India.
  3. "Bibhutibhushan classic 'Chander Pahar' now as graphic novel". eprahaar.in. Archived from the original on 2017-10-08. Retrieved 2014-11-19.
  4. "Moon Mountain". onlinestore.dcbooks.com.
  5. "Book Review - Moon Mountain". livemint.com.



This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.