Apr 03, 2005 07:29 PM
4623 Views
(Updated Apr 03, 2005 07:29 PM)
A novel, which starts slowly, but engrossing enough for one to slowly turn the pages, drawing the reader into a tantalizing web is mannafrom heaven for an avid reader.
?The Hungry Tide ? by Amitava Ghosh sustains your interest from the first page to the last. Ghosh ?s story telling abilities are at its best, luring the reader with a slow unraveling of the plot like layers of onion.
The story moves forward on dramatically on edgy exchanges between seemingly disparate individuals. The story is delightfully blended and intertwined with stories of different individuals, all merging into one like a river when it meets the sea. The milieu of the story is the Sunderbans, which is so well described that one feels the brooding atmosphere of the marshes and the birdcalls.
Life is all about a quest; it may be for identity, for happiness or just for the pleasure of the quest. Life offers no guarantees whether one will achieve it or not. This novel is about such a quest of three individuals, who converge at Sunderbans on a quest
<PIYALI Roy>
She is a cetologist who is of Indian parentage but remains stubbornly American in orientation and temperament. She is tortured by her memories of her mother?s gradual decline into depression, largely accelerated by her father? s indifferent attitude towards her mother.
Her life?s mission is to create a body of knowledge on the river dolphin, which is on the verge of extinction. She is often assailed by self-doubt as to the relevance of her work and its importance in the larger scheme of things.
She perceives herself to have been overlooked by life and loneliness is slowly closeting her gradually. She creates an aura of self-sufficiency around her to keep away from unwanted intrusions in her life and retreats herself into a safe and protective cocoon.
< Kanai Dutt>
Kanai Dutt is an interpreter who runs a successful translation business in Delhi. He is a bachelor who by no means is celibate having had a few affairs in the past. He is a nursing his wounds from a recent affair in which he has been ditched by a woman. He is a Mr Know it all and has utter disdain towards most of the people whom he considers his social inferiors, in other words ? snooty.
Kanai reaches Lusibari a small hamlet in Sunderbans in response to his aunt, Nilima ?s summons. Nilima has called Kanai to go through the literary output of her husband, Nirmal who is long dead. The diaries of Nirmal surface after 16 years after his death and Nilima remembers her husband?s last wish that the diaries are to be given to Kanai only.
<NILIMA Bose>
She is a doctor who runs a NGO, Badabon Trust to look after the welfare of the populace of Sundar bans. Her ceaseless service has brought concrete results ? literarily so , a hospital in Lusibari. Her husband Nirmal for doing what he degradingly called, ?Social Service?, had always scorned her.
Nirmal is a dreamer who dreams of revolution which never comes. As he approaches his retirement, he secretly envies his wife for achieving what she did and he is overwhelmed with a sense of uselessness for having achieved practically nothing for all his bluster about revolution.
The entire character of Nirmal Bose speaks only through his posthumously discovered writings, yet Ghosh has brought out the character so vividly.The language of Ghosh is magical . To quote a line which brings out the angst in Nirmal Bose?s life as he approaches retirement,? The true tragedy of a routinely spent life is that its wastefulness does not become apparent till it is too late?.
The unexpressed contempt with which she holds her husband is described very well. I think , Amitava Ghosh has set new standards for everyone writing in Indian English . He is undoubtedly the best practitioner of this genre.
