HI

SHIVAJI UNIVERSITY, KOLHAPUR

CENTRE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION

M. A. Part-II : English Semester-IV : Paper G3 E5 Special Author : Amitav Ghosh

Semester-IV : Paper C-10 Critical Theory-II

(Academic Year 2019-20 onwards) KJ

M. A. Part-II English Paper G3 E5 Special Author : Amitav Ghosh Unit-1 The Shadow Lines : General Introduction Amitav Ghosh

Contents 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.1.1 History and Narrative 1.1.2 Life and Works of Amitav Ghosh 1.1.3 Check Your Progress 1.1.4 Terms to Remember 1.2 Plot and Summary of the novel The Shadow Lines 1.2.1 Check Your Progress 1.2.2 Terms to Remember 1.3 Major and Minor Characters 1.3.1 Check Your Progress 1.3.2 Terms to Remember 1.4 Themes and Other Aspects in The Shadow Lines 1.4.1 Theme of borders, violence, and political unrest presented in the novel The Shadow Lines OR partition, identity and communal violence in The Shadow Lines : 1.4.2 The Shadow Lines – The novel of memories. 1.4.3 The Theme of Nationalism 1.4.4 Significance of Title

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1.4.5 Historical Factors and Their Narratives in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines 1.4.6 Check Your Progress 1.4.7 Terms to Remember 1.5 Summary 1.6 Answers to Check Your Progress 1.7 Exercises 1.8 Further Readings 1.0 Objectives: After studying this unit you will be able to • Understand the great contribution of Amitav Ghosh in the field of post colonial Indian English Literature • Understand the social disturbance that occurred through partition • Study the characters in the novel and the problems they confront • Study the sources, setting and structure of the novel. 1.1 Introduction: This unit discusses the concept of narrative and history, life and works of the famous Indian English novelist, Amitav Ghosh. It also presents the detailed summary of his popular novel The Shadow Lines , the major and minor characters in the novel and commentary on theme, title and other aspects of the novel. 1.1.1 Narrative and History It was considered for long time that narrative and history were sisters of art as both consider the reader’s mind and represent experience faithfully. From Herodotus to Victor Hugo to Georg Brandes to Benedetto Croce and A. J. Toynbee, that is from antiquity to the first half of the twentieth century it was the belief that the historian along with his skill should be a good narrator. Vice versa, a good story teller can’t avoid incorporating some elements of historical, i.e. communal significance.

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A narrative is an account of how and why a situation or event took place. It unfolds a complex historical event with the details like time, setting, actions and the personages that involve in it. It also evaluates the actual reasons of it and also possible things to avoid it. Narrative history is the practice of writing history in a story-based form. It involves history-writing based on reconstructing series of short- term events. Since the writing of Leopold von Ranke on professionalizing history- writing in the nineteenth century it has been associated with empiricism . The term narrative history thus overlaps with the term histoire événementielle ('event- history') coined by Fernand Braudel in the early twentieth century. He analyzed longer-term trends of forms of history-writing. A crucial and unavoidable feature of narrative history is the fact of selectivity. The narrative historian is forced to make choices and selections at every stage: between "significant" and "insignificant", between "side show" and "main event", and between levels of description. Another crucial feature of the genre of narrative history is the tension between structure and agency. Historians differ about where to set the balance between limiting structures and choosing agents. Though history is considered a social science, the story-based nature of history approves the addition of a greater or lesser degree of narration in addition to an analytical or interpretative exposition of historical information. It is divided into two subgenres: the traditional narrative and the modern narrative. Traditional narrative focuses on the chronological order of history. It is event driven and tends to center upon individuals, action, and intention. For example, in regard to the French Revolution, a historian who works with the traditional narrative might be more interested in the revolution as a single unit (one revolution), centre it in Paris , and rely heavily upon major figures such as Maximilien Robespierre . The traditional narrative focuses too much on what happened and not enough on why it happened. Moreover, this type of narrative reduces history neatly. On the other hand, modern narrative centers on structures and general trends. A modern narrative would break from rigid chronology if the historian felt it explained the concept better. In terms of the French Revolution, a historian working with the modern narrative will use general traits of the revolution that were shared by revolutionaries across France but would also illustrate regional variations based on general trends. He may use different sociological factors to show why different types of people supported the general revolution. The modern narrative overburdens the

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reader with trivial data that had no significance in history. That may cause the readers to believe that minor trivial events were more important than they were considering major events. Amitav Ghosh is honored with several awards. Almost all his literary works are entangled with history. His fiction is characterized by strong themes that may be sometimes identified as historical novels. His themes involve emigration, exile, cultural displacement and uprooting. He illuminates the basic ironies, deep seated ambiguities and existential dilemmas of human condition humanism, cosmopolitanism, communalism, colonial power and history. He, in one of the interviews, has observed, "Nobody has the choice of stepping away from history" and "For me, the value of the novel, as a form, is that it is able to incorporate elements of every aspect of life-history, natural history, rhetoric, politics, beliefs, religion, family, love, sexuality". He remarkably manifests a previous period and missing experiences to life through vividly realized detail. He has contributed to the development of ideas on the postcolonial in particular and its relation to post modernism. His work spans genres from contemporary realism to historical fiction to science fiction, but has consistently dealt with the dislocations, violence, and meetings of people and cultures incoporated by colonialism. 1.1.2 Life and Works of Amitav Ghosh : Amitav Ghosh was born on 11 th July, 1956 at Calcutta (Kolkata). He belongs to a Bengali Hindu family. His father, Lieutenant Colonel Shailendra Chandra Ghosh was a diplomat in Indian army officer. Because of his father’s job, Amitav Ghosh, in the childhood got an ample opportunity to travel a lot in the country as well as outside country. His travel provided him the opportunity to grow up and see the different cultures, especially of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Iran besides India. Amitav Ghosh started his education from Doon School, Dehradun,. Later he received his higher education in St. Stephen’s College from University of Delhi where he completed his graduation in Arts in History. Thereafter he received his Masters degree in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics. After completing his Masters of Arts, he earned a diploma in Arabic from Institute Bourguiba Des Langues Vivantes, Tunis, Tunisia. He is an omniscient personality that reflected even at his college days. While getting higher education he emerged in the field of journalism. He instigated the reporting and editorial work for a newspaper. But he

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left the job and went to England for his doctoral research. He got admission in St. Edmund Hall, Oxford from where he was awarded Ph.D. in Social Anthropology on 1982. Ghosh married to Deborah Baker, the author of In Extremis: The Life of Laura Riding (1993), which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in biography in 1994. Ghosh has two children- Lila and Nayan. He started his career by working in the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi. Then he turned towards teaching field. He worked as the Professor in various universities. He taught at Columbia University in NYU, Queens College of the City University, American University in Cairo, Harvard University and many other. He worked as a Fellow at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta. He also joined the prestigious Queens College, City University of New York, as Professor in Comparative Literature. He worked as a visiting Professor at the Department of English of Harvard University too since 2005. Ghosh has also taught at several colleges in Delhi. Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India in 2007. Currently he is living in New York with his wife, Deborah Baker and is working as the Senior Editor at Little, Brown and Co. In December 2018, Ghosh became the first writer in English to be chosen for the conferment of the Bharatiya Gnyanpith Award, the highest literary award in India, for “outstanding contribution in literature” in any of the official Indian languages. Amitav Ghosh’s Literary Career A) Historical Fiction: Amitav Ghosh began his literary career with his first novel, The Circle of Reason (1986). It is set in India and Africa and winner of the 1990 Prix Médicis Étranger. It focuses on the central character being accused of terrorism and his journey to Africa. It is considered as postcolonial and postmodern literature for its treatment of the colonial factors and the inter-textual nature. This is followed by his next widely popular novel, The Shadow Lines (1988). It deals with the effects of British colonial power’s departure from India and partition in 1947. It won the famous the Sahitya Akademi Award, the most prestigious literary prize offered by the Government of India, in 1990. He received another award, the Ananda Puraskar, Kolkata for the same book. The Glass Palace (2000) is Ghosh’s one more historical novel. This is a complex literary work that is set in various regions and time periods.

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The novel is an address to the prevailing issues like economic changes, constitution of nation and the impact of modernity on the society. In 2001, his novel Glass Palace won the Grand Prize for fiction at the Frankfurt International e-book Award. Ghosh’s one more contribution in the field of historical fiction arrived in the form of Triology Ibis trilogy . Sea of Poppies (2008) is one of the first volumes in it shortlisted for Booker 2008 . The story is set in the Pre-opium-War period in 1830s. It summarizes the colonial period in the Southeast Asia. The second volume in the trilogy is recently published by the title, River of Smoke (2011) and Flood of Fire in 2015 B) Science Fiction: Along with historical fiction Ghosh has proved himself as a great science fiction novelist. The first science fiction novel of Ghosh is The Calcutta Chromosome was published in 1996. It won the 1997 Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction. Sir Ronald Ross is considered to be the inspiration for the book. This medical thriller, set in future, revolves around random people who are brought together by a common thread of events. C) Non-fiction: Apart from fiction, Amitav Ghosh is also involved in writing non-fiction. His major non-fictions include ‘Countdown’ , a book on India’s nuclear policy, The Imam and the Indians , a collection of essays on various topics such as history of the novel, Egyptian culture and literature, and Dancing in Cambodia, At Large in Burma , a collection of travel essays. Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India in 2007. In an Antique Land (1992) is Ghosh’s experimental work encompassing variety of genres like autobiographical, fictional and non- fictional writing, blending into each other was given the New York Times Notable Book of 1993 Award. Incendiary Circumstances, Dancing in Cambodia and The Imam and the Indian are marked as his contributions to non-fictional genre. In 2016 he produced one more creation, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. His latest work Gun Island , released in June 2019, is a novel about a dealer of rare books who is forced to embark on an extraordinary journey. Awards: Amitav Ghosh’s work is recognized internationally. He achieved several honorary awards for his contribution in the literary field. In 1990, he received France’s Chief Literary Award, Prix Médicis, for The Circle of Reason. Arthur C. 6

Clarke Award was extended to him for The Calcutta Chromosome . Another prestigious milestone in his career arrived when Sea of Poppies won Dan David Prize and was also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The Glass Palace was considered for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize but he pulled out amid the consideration process. Amitav Ghosh is an established Indian author and there are more than twenty languages in which his works have been translated so far. Amitav Ghosh is a versatile person who is frequently honored with various awards. 1989 the Sahitya Academi Award; 1990 the Prix Médicis Étranger (France); 1990 the Ananda Puraskar (India); 1997 the Arthur C Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction; 1999 the Pushcart Prize; 2001International e-book Award Grand Prize for Fiction (Germany); 2004 the Hutch Crossword Book Award; 2007 the Grinzane Cavour International Prize (Italy); 2007 the Padmashri (Indian);; 2010 the Dan David Prize (Israel); In 2011 he was awarded with the Blue Metropolis International Literary Grand Prix (Canada) and in the same year the Man Asia Literary Prize. Source or Inspiration Amitav Ghosh has shown great impact of Salaman Rushdie and also Conrad. The title is an allusion to Joseph Conrad’s novella, The Shadow Line , and while its precise relationship to Conrad’s text is oblique and shadowy, both share a preoccupation with the threshold between East and West, and with the ghostly haunting of imperial memory. More generally, Ghosh’s second novel draws inspiration from diverse modern European and Indian texts from Proust to Tagore, Ford Madox Ford to Satjajit Ray. 1.1.3 Check Your Progress Answer in one word/phrase/sentence. 1. When Amitav Ghosh was awarded the Padmashri by the Government of India? 2. Against the background of which historical event the novel The Shadow Lines is set? 3. Which is the first novel of Amitav Ghosh? 4. What does Ghosh comment in his novel The Shadow Lines ? 5. What is proved as the source of inspiration for Amitav Ghosh for his novel The Shadow Line ? 7

6. Which is the type of fiction that the novel The Shadow Line belonged? 7. What is narrative history? 1.1.4 Terms to Remember • Colonial - imposing • Prevailing –current • Encompassing – about • Blending – combining • Versatile – outstanding 1.2 Plot and Summary of the novel The Shadow Lines The Shadow Lines (1988) is the Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel written by a renowned Indian English writer Amitav Ghosh. He is one of the most celebrated authors in Indian English and has won many national and international awards for his fiction that is keenly intertwined with history. The novel, The Shadow Lines is set against the background of historical events like the Swadeshi Movement, the Second World War, Partition of India and Communal riots of 1963-64 in Dhaka and Calcutta, the Maoist Movement, the India-China War, the India-Pakistan War and the fall of Dhaka from East Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh. It gave great honor to the writer. In the year 1989 this novel was declared the Sahitya Akademi Award for English, by the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letter. It became so popular that Shalini Topiwala translated it to Gujarati in 1998. The novel is a fine example of narration. It is the story of the family and friends of the nameless narrator who grows up in Calcutta, who is educated in Delhi and then follows with the experiences he gets in London. His narration informs about his grandmother and his other relatives through the memories of his uncle and his grandmother. The events in the novel revolve around Mayadeby’s family, their friendship and sojourn with their English friends the Prices. Mayadebi is narrator’s grandmother’s sister. It also centers Tha’mma, the narrator’s grandmother’s attachment with her ancestral city, Dhaka. In the novel the past, present and future are beautifully interwoven.

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The novel begins with the narrator’s recalling his memories to his cousin Ila and his uncle Robi in London in the early 1980. The unnamed narrator recounts a series of stories and memories. The stories and memories belong to the narrator; his uncle Tridib; and his grandmother, Tha'mma. Through narration he goes back to the early twentieth century when Tridib's grandfather, Mr. Justice Chandrashekhar Datta- Chaudhuri, befriends Lionel Tresawsen at Séances in London. Tha'mma who was born in 1902 in Dhaka, British India in her childhood Tha’mma experiences the spilt of her house caused by the quarrel of her father and her uncle, Jethamoshai. After their marriages both sisters lose contacts with Jethamoshai. Tha'mma follows her husband as he used to work on the railroad. Unfortunately she loses her husband in 1936. But without losing the courage she refuses to accept help of any sort from her family and she becomes a teacher. She grows her child, the narrator's father. In spite of her interest in the terrorist movements against British rule, in her youth, when the Partition takes place in 1947 her household responsibilities can’t allow her to contribute much in it. However, she never returns to Dhaka since it becomes the capital of the Muslim country East Pakistan. Later the narrator's father marries the narrator's mother, who soon gives birth to a son, the narrator. The narrator’s aunt, Mayadebi marries with the Shaheb, Justice Datta- Chaudhuri's son. The Shaheb is a wealthy diplomat, and in 1939, he ends up needing a special medical operation that can't be performed in India. So Mrs. Price, Lionel Tresawson's daughter, invites Shaheb and his family to live with her in London so that he can get medical attention there. Tridib, Mayadebi’s second son who is nine years old, accompanies his father, while his elder brother, Jatin, stays in school in India. Tridib loves London and is fascinated by Alan Tresawsen, Mrs. Price's brother, and his friends Dan, Mike, and Francesca. In the time leading up to World War II Tridib spends his days exploring bombsites and listening to Snipe, Mrs. Price's husband who tells stories. In 1940, a bomb hits Alan's house on Brick Lane, killing him and Dan. Later that year, Tridib's family returns to India. Mrs. Price has two children, May Price and Nick Price. Later Tridib and May involve with each other even after living in different places. Over the next decade, Mayadebi gives birth to her third son, Robi. Jatin marries a woman affectionately known as Queen Victoria, and the couple has a daughter named Ila, who is of narrator's age. From his childhood the narrator feels his one sided attraction for Ila though there is much gap

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between both of them. Ila's parents are wealthy, and she spends her childhood travelling around the world for her father's work. The narrator, on the other hand, never gets outside Calcutta. Instead, he spends his time listening to Tridib's stories about London and other faraway lands. Tridib teaches the narrator to use his imagination and explain that the world in one's imagination can be just as real as the outside world. Ila doesn't understand this and disagrees her uncle. The novel opens one more layer where the narrator narrates his own attraction for Ila. For a time, Ila's family lives with the Prices in London. In her eight year of age her family visits Calcutta for a festival. The narrator insists Tha'mma with her full family to accompany Ila's family to their family home in Raibajar. But he feels nervous to meet Ila. At Raibajar under a huge table that Tridib's grandfather shipped back from London Ila decides to play a game called Houses, which she plays with Nick in London. She informs the narrator of who Nick is, and the narrator understands that Nick is his vival for Ila's affection. While playing Ila acts as if her doll Magda is disturbed by the ugly school bully in the school who tries to beat her but Nick Price saves her. While telling the story Ila starts to cry, and the narrator feels angry for her crying over an imaginary event. Finally, Tridib walks in with the children and listens to the narrator Ila's story. He informs him that this is an actual event that took place in the life of Ila, not her doll. But according to Ila’s expectations Nick didn’t save her. Through this story Tridib informs the narrator that everyone lives in stories. The novel develops the silent love story of Tridib and May Price. In 1959, Tridib and May, who is nineteen at the time, begin writing to each other. They exchange photos after a year. In 1963, Tridib sends May a very long letter expressing his wish to meet her as two young people meet each other in a ruin as it was shown in an English movie. May is upset, but she plans to visit Tridib in India and accordingly visits India and also accompanies Tridib to Dhaka. The novel turns to the communal violence as the horrible effect of partition that takes place in Dhaka. Tha'mma, who is retired and has time on her hands gets the news that her uncle Jethamoshai, who is in his nineties, still lives in the family home in Dhaka. She believes that it's her duty to bring Jethamoshai from the growing unrest in the Muslim-majority city, Dhaka to India. Coincidentally, after some days of this news the Shaheb receives a job posting to Dhaka, and he moves there with Mayadebi, and Robi. According to the invitation of Mayadebi, on January 4, 1964, 10

Tha'mma along with Tridib and May reach Dhaka to bring her uncle to India. Mayadebi with thirteen-year-old Robi accompanies them to the old house in Dhaka. A Muslim mechanic, Saifuddin informs them that a rickshaw driver, Khalil, who lives in the old house, takes care of Jethamoshai. Unfortunately while bringing Jethamoshai to Mayadebi’s house an angry mob surrounded the car and rikshaw of Khalil. As May tries to get out of car to save Jethamoshai, Tridib himself gets down, but Tridib, Jethamoshai, and Khalil are all brutally murdered by the mob. Considering the narrator’s attachment with Tridib his parents do not open the news of Tridib’s murder for some days. After some days they tell him that Tridib died in an accident. Later through Robi and May the narrator gets the real information about Tridib’s death. He finds May and Robi feeling guilty for the death of him. But in the end while telling the story to the narrator she relieves from the guilt that she is not responsible for this. Robi admits that he has a recurring nightmare about the riot in Dhaka in which he can never keep Tridib from getting out of the car. Simultaneously the narrator experiences communal violence in Calcutta. Some days later Tha’mma goes to Dhaka, the narrator gets the experience of horrible bus ride where the bus driver tries his level best to save dozen boys from the angry mob. Meanwhile, in Dhaka, The narrator finds a drastic change in the behavior of Th’amma when she returns from Dhaka. She becomes very much silent and communicates very rarely. Th’mma who is fond of the jewellery can’t wear them after losing her husband. But she never separates a gold chain from her that is gifted by her husband. As the impact of communal violence she experiences in Dhaka, the following year, gives her beloved gold chain away to fund the war with Pakistan and appears crazy to the narrator. As the novel develops, the narrator finds his growing interest in Ila in London. But she never understands it. She also dislikes the narrator’s interest in Tridib’s stories and their childhood memories and also antics. Once Ila comes for a holiday. She wants to enjoy the nightclub which according to Indian culture is not granted by Robi. But she insists to go there with Robi and the narrator where Robi has opposition to Ila’s dancing with an unknown man. But it is her view that as she lives in London she is free to enjoy everything. Meanwhile, Tha’mma faces death bed condition. In this situation the narrator tells this event to Tha'mma that makes her extremely angry. She dislikes Ila’s concept of freedom. In her anger she writes a letter to the dean of the narrator's school the day before she dies telling the dean that

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the narrator visits prostitutes and should therefore be expelled. When the narrator goes on to pursue an advanced degree in London he realizes that Ila has great attraction for Nick and she is completely unknown of his feelings for her. May informs that Nick is lying about leaving his job in Kuwait. She believes he misuses money. Still Ila marries with Nick and gets defrauded by Nick but she continues her relations with Nick as she loves him and bears his disloyalty. The novel develops with the various references of communal violence, social uproar from Assam, the northeast, Punjab, Sri Lanka, Tripura etc. While taking education in Delhi once the narrator comes across the information of the communal riots and violence that disturb the society. After seeing a lecture in Delhi, the narrator realizes that although he is never connected the events as a child, the riot he experienced in Calcutta and the riot that killed Tridib in Dhaka were the parts of the same political uproar. As he studies Tridib's atlas, the narrator discovers that borders are meaningless and actually helped to create the climate that brought on the riots in the first place. The novel is divided in two parts Going away and Coming Home. The first part describes the disturbances in the family that creates a border line between them. There is description of departure between two sisters, Mayadebi’s leaving country, Tha’mma’s going away from Dhaka, separation of the house because of the death of grandfather of both the sisters, Tha’mma’s rejection of help from anyone after losing the husband, her hardships etc. The second part narrates Tha’mma’s life after retirement, both sisters’ sincere efforts to bring their uncle, Jethamosai to Calcutta in which they get failure. The second part displays illusion of borders that the politicians created the borders but these borders can’t separate the minds of the people. 1.2.1 Check Your Progress Answer in one word/phrase/sentence. 1. Who is the narrator of the novel The Shadow Lines ? 2. Which place does Tridib call as ruin of him and May? 3. Who takes care of Jethamosai in Dhaka? 4. When did Tridib and May Price begin to write each other?

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5. Where does Tridib live? 1.2.2 Terms to Remember • Recount – narrate • Diplomat – civil servant • communal violence – public violence • uproar – tumult 1.3 Major and Minor Characters: Tridib – Tridib is the protagonist of the novel. His father is a wealthy diplomat. He has a big family, parents, two brothers and niece. His father and brothers live abroad and have high-powered, international jobs but Tridib is the only one in his family who does not live with his wealthy father. Instead, he remains in his grandmother's home in Calcutta and pursues a Ph.D. in Archaeology, something to do with sites associated with the Sena dynasty of Bengal. When he was nine years old he accompanied his father to London. He loves London. The writer has created Tridib’s character to mould the personality of the narrator. He is the narrator's uncle. He is twenty years older than the narrator. Being a very skilled storyteller, Tridib, tells stories about London and other far away lands to the narrator. Tridib has an atlas that he uses to show the narrator to show the places in the world he talks about in his stories in the age of eight of the narrator. Accordingly he teaches the narrator to use his imagination and explains that the world in one's imagination can be just as real as the outside world. The narrator also succeeds in creating his understanding about London through the stories told by Tridib. It helps him to acknowledge London when he goes there for his higher education in his adult age. He has proved as the greater source for the narrator. He is occupied in most of the significant incidents in the novel. Tridib is a shy and sensitive boy. He always avoids the topic of his marriage. Though he is in love with Miss May Price, Mrs. Price's daughter, he has no courage to express it directly so he begins a correspondence with May when he becomes 27 of his age. He is a loving personality that makes him popular among students and would-be footballers and bank clerks and small- time politicians on the road between 13

Gariahat and Gole Park in Calcutta. He is always surrounded by the people. But such popularity creates his ill image among the responsible and grown-ups people. No one in the family considers him as a responsible person. The narrator’s grandmother dislikes him for his life style which is far away from ordinary people. She blames him for his workless attitude. She dislikes his neglect towards money. Though Tridib understands her hatred, he never reacts. Tridib likes thrill in his life. In London, in the time leading up to the World War II, Tridib spends his days exploring bombsites. Amitav Ghosh has pictured this lovely guy as too much sensitive. His sensitivity goes to such an extent that when he accompanies May and Tha'mma to Tha'mma's ancestral home at Dhaka, for the sake of saving May, Jethamosai and Khalil from an angry mob he sacrifices himself. While facing the angry mob he jumps in it that kills Jethamosai, Khalil and also Tridib. His death haunts May, the narrator, Tha'mma, and Robi for several days. Tha'mma – Tha'mma is the narrator's grandmother. The writer has portrayed this character as a hard and having self-respect. When Tha’mma’s husband died in 1936, her son, the narrator's father, was still a child. Tha'mma became fiercely independent. Accepting the situation she protected her self-respect by rejecting the help from everyone, including her younger sister, Mayadebi. Tha'mma told herself that her relatives actually refused to help her, so she deliberately kept a proper distance from her family. She became a teacher and refused to accept help of any sort from her family. She became the Headmistress of a girls' school in Calcutta. Amitav Ghosh has created this character having very strict, disciplined nature. She is hard working, mentally strong built and patient lady. She keeps strict watch on everyone in the family. For her, time is money. She dislikes wasting time in useless things even not in entertainment or playing games. So she doesn’t allow someone in the family to mould them according to own wish. The narrator was allowed to play when he used to be ill. Everyone in the house she wants to be always busy, narrator’s mother is in housekeeping; she herself is in the work of schoolmistress and his father is at his job as a junior executive in a company which dealt in vulcanized rubber. She dislikes Tridib as he doesn’t carry out any proper work and lives off his father’s money. She thinks Tridib doesn’t compromise with his way of living. For her, likes and dislikes are unimportant compared to the business offending for

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oneself in the world. Because of this, she dislikes Tridib, whom she believes to be a gossip. So she used to comment on Tridib, “He's a loafer and a wastrel, I would sometimes hear her saying to my parents; he doesn't do any proper work, lives off his father's money.” Tha’mma has strict opinions about everything in life. The woman who doesn’t allow anyone to waste the time, herself insists the narrator to go for running down to the park by the lake whether he wishes or not. She used to say, “You can't build a strong country… without building a strong body”. She has her strict opinions about everyone. Though the narrator is in love with Ila, she dislikes her for free life style and understanding. When the narrator informs one incident about Ila’s opinion about her free living she expresses her hatred. Through the view of cutting the narrator’s relationship with Ila, she writes a letter to the Dean of the narrator's school the day before she dies, telling the Dean that the narrator visits prostitutes and should therefore be expelled from the school. She becomes cruel to the narrator. Tha’mma gives very much importance to maintain relationships. One incident in her childhood makes her very much conscious about family and bonding among the family members. When she was a child she witnessed the dispute between her father and her uncle that created a wall between the houses of these two families. She blames Tridib for not accompanying his parents to London. There is sudden turn in her character in her sixties. After her retirement Tha’mma gets time to think about other relations which earlier she had centered only on her own son and his family. She hands over all the household responsibilities to her daughter in law and thinks of her uncle Jethamoshai who is in his nineties who still lives in the family home in Dhaka. She feels anxious about him for the rising tensions between India and Pakistan. She believes that it is her duty to bring Jethamoshai home to India. But unfortunately she gets failure in doing so as her uncle and also Tridib and Robi become the victims of the communal riot after partition. Tha’mma is the representative to show the feelings of patriotism among the youths. As a young woman in British India, she desperately wanted to be a part of the terrorist groups that fought for India's independence. She also represents the common people in 1947 that have no knowledge of partition. When Partition happened in 1947, however, Tha'mma was too busy raising the narrator's father as a single parent to think much of it. She doesn't understand what partition is for the border itself is invisible. The thought of returning to Dhaka, her birth place becomes

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a difficult one for her. However, she never returns to Dhaka since it becomes the capital of the Muslim country East Pakistan till her retirement. She feels shocked to get realization that as her birth was in Dhaka means that she was born in East Pakistan. She feels sorry to see the riot in Dhaka. She becomes the evidence of the evil consequence of partition in the form of murders of Jethamoshai, Robi and Tridib in the riot. After returning from Dhaka there comes shocking changes in her personality. She loses interest in everything. Though the narrator tries to involve her in his work she can hardly show interest in it. Even the news of her only son’s becoming General Manager also can’t move her. The social disorder in India and the loss of her own family members motivate her to separate her favourite gold chain to fund the war effort against Pakistan. Narrator - The Narrator in the novel, The Shadow Lines is not given a name, but the entirety of The Shadow Lines is constructed from memories of his own experiences, and the memories of stories that people tell him. He recounts a series of stories and memories to his cousin Ila and his uncle Robi. The stories and memories belong to the narrator; his uncle Tridib; and his grandmother, Tha'mma. He was born in Calcutta, India in 1953, where he lives with his parents and his strict grandmother, Tha’mma. He spends his entire childhood in Calcutta. While living in Calcutta the narrator wanders almost all over the world through the stories told by his uncle Tridib. The narrator though plays significant role in developing the novel, he is colored by Amitav Ghosh as a passive person. Despite his love for certain people like Tridib, Tha’mma, his grandmother, and Ila, he is extremely passive. He rarely inserts himself into the action; he simply tells the reader what has happened. The narrator is often a frustrating character, because his style of story-telling works in much the same way as memory itself. He likes his uncle very much due to his skill of story telling. Tridib tells him stories, pointing out far away cities in his atlas and telling him often about living in London as a child. Though Tridib is a point of scorn for grandmother, the narrator admires his way of living and looking at the world. Tridib flourishes the imaginative power of the narrator. As a result of it, when he goes to England on a year's research grant, to collect material from the India Office Library, for Ph.D thesis on the textile trade between India and England in the nineteenth

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century, he feels it quite familiar. Though his grandmother blames Tridib which is against his view, he never reacts on it. The narrator is quite shy and introvert person. Though he loves his cousin, Ila he feels nervous to have direct communication with her. Till the end he can’t express his love for her, instead he keeps it in his mind. When he realizes Ila’s feelings for an English boy, Nick Price, the narrator understands that Nick is his rival for Ila's affection. But he compromises with the situation. He doesn’t come between Ila and Nick. Later, Ila and Nick get married, which is heartbreaking for the narrator. But he accepts the fact without any complaint. Over the next several years in London, the narrator reconnects with Ila where he listens to complaints of Ila about Nick. After Ila’s rejection, his role becomes of passive observer. The narrator feels very sorry that Ila never gives the importance to Tridib's stories. He convinces himself that as she has traveled a lot she does not need to depend on Tridib’s stories to understand the world. On the contrary, as the narrator never left Calcutta he shows much curiosity about Tridib’s stories but he never actively tries to convince Ila the importance of Tridib’s stories. The writer has colored the narrator’s character as a loving and sensitive personality. He shows great respect to the elders. He likes his grandmother who always gives importance to the family relations. So he lives tuned into the inner workings of his family. He understands Tha'mma’s deep sense of pride. He shows great respect for his grandmother for her independent, nature of self respect. Similarly, he shows attachment to May, daughter of Mrs. Price. He knows Tridib’s love for May and eagerly wishes for their union. It is May, from whom, he understands the real cause of the death of Tridib. While discussing about the same he realizes the guilty consciousness of May who holds responsible to herself for the death of Tridib. The discussion relieves May that she is not responsible for the death of Tridib but it is an evil consequence of communal conflict. The narrator realizes that the terrifying riot he experienced in Calcutta in 1964 was just like the one that killed Tridib in Dhaka. The character of the narrator plays significant role in binding and presenting all the events in the novel. Ila – Ila is the narrator's cousin and Tridib’s niece and lives in Stockwell, London. They're of the same age. Their families joke that they could be twins, but actually by

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nature they're very different. She is the daughter of Jatin, the elder brother of Tridib who was two years older than Tridib, was an economist with the UN. Ila's family is very wealthy and she has lived in a number of foreign cities throughout her childhood, which makes her much less interested in their uncle Tridib's stories. During her childhood, she lives in London at Mrs. Price's house for a while and attends school with Mrs. Price’s son, Nick. When she visits Calcutta and plays with the narrator, she indirectly tells the narrator about being bullied and beaten for being Indian, and the narrator doesn't piece together what actually happened until years later. Ila comments on Indians and speaks in Trotskyism in London, and tells the narrator that nothing that happens in India is important on a global scale. Because Ila grows up in a lot of western cities, she thinks about freedom differently than the narrator and Robi. She loves to talk about having promiscuous sex and wears western cloths that the narrator finds unusual. When she comes in Calcutta she insists Robi and the narrator to go night club. Even she likes to dance with a stranger in the club which is disliked by Robi and he forcefully brings her out of club. She opposes it and says as she lives in foreign country she has the right to live modern life. So the narrator’s grandmother dislikes her very much. She tries her best to keep the narrator from Ila. Though the narrator loves her romantically throughout his childhood and into adulthood, Ila neither realizes nor cares. She marries Nick Price and soon discovers that this was a mistake as Nick has several other girlfriends and refuses to give them up. Though she confesses to the narrator all the things regarding Nick and also her defrauding by him and seeks comfort. But she later insists that Nick would never hurt her so will continue her relations. She is the narrator's cousin who lives in Stockwell, London. May – May is Mrs. Price's daughter. She’s at least ten years older than her younger brother, Nick. She was an infant when Tridib and his family were in London in 1939. She studies at the Royal College of Music. She is an oboist and plays in an orchestra professionally throughout her adult life. Though she works in an orchestra she dislikes to do this work. But she accepts it as a source of earning. Actually she likes to work for Amnesty and Oxfam and two more relief agencies. Actually her project was to provide housing for the survivors of an earthquake in Central America. Even she collects fund for the relief of African famine affected people on Oxford Street and Regent Street. In her nineteen she begins correspondence with Tridib that lasts

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for four years and ends in a visit to India. Initially, May isn't sure if she loves Tridib or not, and she remains unsure even throughout the visit. While she's in India, she and Tridib see the tourist sights and spend time together, often accompanied by the narrator, who is eleven at the time. Near the end of her visit, she accompanies Tridib and Tha'mma to Dhaka and visits Tha'mma's ancestral home. When a riot breaks out May gets out of the car, believing that as an Englishwoman, the mob won't hurt her. Though she's correct, Tridib dies when he gets out of the car to protect her and his grand uncle, Jethamoshai. May lives the rest of her life wondering as if she killed Tridib, though she eventually comes to believe that Tridib sacrificed himself for her. Apparently, because of what she saw in India and because of her guilt, she sleeps on the floor and fasts one day per week. When she reconnects with the narrator in the 1980s, she shares with him her youthful uncertainties about whether or not she loved Tridib and her fears that she killed him. Nick – Nick price is sister of May Price and Ila’s classmate and husband. He's ten years older than May. He is a blonde, and has long hair. He is pictured as the challenger of the narrator regarding the love of Ila. Though Ila from her childhood shows great affections for him and considers him as an idealized person who will save her from the problem but in actual life he neglects towards her problem. He refuses to stand up for Ila when she was a victim of racial violence. In adulthood, Nick does nothing fruitful in the life and just aimlessly moves here and there through life. His sister, May, implies that Nick was fired from his last job for misuse. Not long after Nick and Ila marry, Ila discovers that Nick has several other girlfriends and has no intention of giving any of them up. Though she decides she could never leave him, she punishes him by embarrassing him at dinner parties. Mayadebi – Mayadebi is the narrator's grandmother's younger sister and Tridib's mother. Mayadebi marries the Shaheb, Justice Datta-Chaudhuri's son. Mayadebi is Tha'mma's younger sister. The narrator describes the two women as being like reflections in a looking glass. Mayadebi is lucky enough to marry the Shaheb, a wealthy diplomat. She was not often in Calcutta. As such, she travels often throughout her life, including London in 1939 with the nine-year-old Tridib, her middle son. She has three sons, Tridib, Jatin and Robi. Unfortunately she loses her

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two sons, Tridib and Robi in the communal vilonence. Mayadebi is a beautiful and shy woman, and she worries often about Tridib's safety while they're in London. Though she offers help to Tha'mma when Tha'mma's husband dies, Tha'mma refuses her help. Tha'mma often refers to Mayadebi as somewhat foolish, as in the childhood she used to fool Mayadebi by telling strange stories. Mayadebi used to fully believe in her older sister's tale that their uncle Jethamoshai's side of the house was entirely upside-down. It is Mayadebi with whose help Tha’mma tries to bring their uncle Jethamosai to India though both get failure in their attempt. The Shaheb - is a wealthy diplomat, husband of Mayadebi and son of Justice Datta- Chaudhuri. Mrs. Price- Mrs. Price is Lionel Tresawson's daughter. May Price and Nick Price’s mother. She insists Mayadebi to bring Saheb to London for proper medical treatment. 1.3.1 Check Your Progress Answer in one word/phrase/sentence. 1. What is the name of Tridib’s niece? 2. What is the name of Tridib's grandfather? 3. Who is Saheb? 4. Who is Mrs. Price? 5. Who is Mrs. Price’s husband? 1.3.2 Terms to Remember • Acknowledge- recognize • Expelled – debarred • Accompanying – going with • Consequence – effect • Extremely – tremendously …

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1.4 Themes and other aspects in The Shadow Lines 1.4.1 Theme of borders, violence, and political unrest reflected in the novel The Shadow Lines

OR Partition, identity and communal violence depicted in The Shadow Lines : The Shadow Lines (1988) is the Sahitya Akademi Award-winning novel by Indian writer Amitav Ghosh. It is a realistic novel with innovations and complexities. The novel depicts the post-partition scenario of India and the violence that followed it. It is all set against the background of the World War II and the communal riots of 1964 in some parts of India and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The political leaders of the pre independence time in India tried to control the political unrest in India by splitting the country in two parts, India and Pakistan. When the British finally granted their colony of British India independence in 1947, they divided the colony based on religious lines as the Hindu-majority country of India and the Muslim-majority countries of East Pakistan and West Pakistan. But this partition invited several problems. The greatest problem was of migration. Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan were suggested to migrate to India whereas Muslims in India were told to migrate to Pakistan. This migration mode harsh injuries on the minds of several in the forms of the memories of the people. The Shadow Lines pictures the pathetic situation of the people living in the post-partition period. The novel is divided in two parts, 'Going Away' and 'Coming Home', describing the life of a young boy growing up in Calcutta, who is educated in Delhi and then follows with the experiences he has in London. The narrator in the story interweaves the story of The Shadow Lines under the impression of the memories recalled by his uncle, Tridib. Tridib has such a wonderful ability to create the word picture that even without visiting several places in London the narrator feels quite acquainted with them. The novel covers almost half century after independence. It starts in 1939 during the World War II. The narrator’s grandmother, Tha’mma who is a strict woman follows her husband as he works on the railroad in Calcutta. Tha’mma’s sister, Mayadebi marries the Shaheb, Justice Datta-Chaudhuri's son. The Shaheb is a wealthy diplomat. So she travels often throughout her life. Later in 1939 for medical purpose Mayadebi’s family shifts to London. Her middle son Tridib lives in Calcutta 21

with his grandmother. So there lives only Tha’mma and Mayadebi’s uncle, Jethamoshai in Dhaka. But both the sisters lose their contacts with uncle, Jethamoshai after their marriages. Unfortunately, Tha’mma loses her husband in 1936. After his death she refuses to accept help of any sort from her family and begins to work as Headmistress in a school. The focus of the novel is on the partition of India and the consequent trauma of the East Bengal’s psyche. The narrator of Ghosh’s novel is a young boy who grew up in Calcutta and Delhi in post–partition India. The trauma of partition continues through three generations. The agonies of displacement, the sense of alienation in the adopted land and the constant dream of a return to one’s land are the themes of this novel. Partition was viewed as the price for political freedom from the British colonial rule. It shows the evil fruit of partition. The events of The Shadow Lines center primarily on riots that took place in Calcutta, India, and Dhaka, East Pakistan, in late 1963 and early 1964. Amitav Ghosh shows the political unrest that is connected almost with all the major characters in the novel. The major character, Tha'mma in her youth though feels much interested in the terrorist movements against British rule, when the partition takes place in 1947, it meant little to her as she finds herself very much involved in her domestic responsibilities. But still this unrest brings turmoil in her life. She gets difficulties to visit Dhaka, her birthplace, as it becomes the capital of the Muslim country, the east Pakistan. After her retirement she goes to Dhaka to bring back her uncle to the safe place to live with his family. So along with her nephew, Tridib she leaves for Dhaka. The greatest blow she gets is the murder of Tridib and Uncle Jethamosai through communal violence and communal attack of 1963-64 in Dhaka. The narrator doesn't discover the truth until the very end of the novel. But once he realizes the real cause of Tridib’s and Jethamosai’s death he associates this communal violence with the violence from his hometown in Calcutta. In his schooldays while Tha’mma leaves Calcutta for Dhaka, he experiences the strange scenes surrounding the school building by the rioters and the mad chase of his school bus by the rioters. Though at that time he doesn’t understand the meaning of it later he realizes that it is a part of communal conflict that is effect of partition. He understands the role of partition and British colonialism that played to arise the conflict between India and Pakistan. When the narrator becomes a grown up man after seeing a lecture in Delhi, the narrator realizes that

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although he never connected the events as a child, the riot he experienced in Calcutta and the riot that killed Tridib in Dhaka was part of the same political uproar. The political disorder changes the lives of all the major characters in the novel. Thamma, Tridib, his uncle, Ila, his distant cousin and May, everyone pass through tremendous changes in their lives. Tridib and uncle Jethamosai become the victim of communal violence. May gets a great shock of this attack. For long days she considers herself responsible for the murder of Tridib. When the attackers attack Jethmosai’s rickshaw no one is ready to go out of the car that following rickshaw. But it is May who opens the door and then following her Tridib gets down and he rushs in the mob to save Jethamosai. In this attack Tridib and Jethamosai lose their lives. Almost up to end of the novel May carries guilty consciousness for the death of Tridib. But in the end she relieves from the burden when she realizes that she is not responsible for Tridib’s death. After returning from Dhaka, Tha’mma’s character experiences tremendous change. She begins to live isolated without speaking with anyone. In the end she separates her beloved chain from her favourite gold chain from her to fund the war effort with Pakistan. One more incident that shows political unrest in the library of Delhi when the narrator faces a speaker that reminds the communal riots that he has faced in his childhood. As the narrator, who is grown up in the Indian city of Calcutta, unaware of anything happening outside his home in India, describes these borders meant that relatively—cities that are a thousand miles away but still in India are in the forefront of his consciousness and understanding, while cities that are a day's drive away, but in another country, simply doesn't exist in his mind. As the narrator studies Tridib's atlas, he discovers that borders are meaningless and actually helped create the climate that brought on the riots in the first place. After losing Tridib and her uncle, Tha’mma, accepts this truth and gives her beloved gold chain to Indians to fight against Pakistanis. 1.4.2 The Shadow Lines – The Novel of Memories. The Shadow Lines has multiple layers of themes and a complex narrative structure. Through the contrast between imagination and reality, the novel develops with the narrator’s recalling childhood experiences. It is the novel of memories. The Shadow Line pictures the events that take place between English family and Indian family. It reveals through the memory of a character. It moves back and forth from present to past and to the present. It travels through time and places and displays the

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experience of partition and its pain. There is a thin line between the memory and reality, personal, general and emotional and practicality, communal and religious, violence and normalcy, India and Bangladesh, India and England, partition and migration, past and present. The novel begins with recounting the series of stories and memories by the narrator to his cousin Ila and his uncle Robi in London in the early 1980s. The stories and memories belong to the narrator, his uncle Tridib and his grandmother, Tha'mma. The narrator goes far back recalling the memories about three generations. The larger part of these memories consists of Tridib, narrated to the narrator by Tridib, narrator’s uncle. Some are narrated by narrator’s grandmother and some are the narrator’s own memories. Many of the events that are narrated in this novel cover the period even before the birth of the narrator. The memories begin in the early twentieth century when Tridib's grandfather, Mr. Justice Chandrashekhar Datta-Chaudhuri, befriends Lionel Tresawsen at Séances in London. Tridib presents such a lively picture of memories to the narrator as if these memories are his own memories. Tridib was just nine years old when he lived in London. He was fascinated to see the life in London. In 1940 his family came back to India. But these years were sufficient for Tridib to weave the memories in London and describe various sights to the narrator. The narrator spends his time listening to Tridib’s stories about London and other far away lands. With the help of a map Tridib teaches the narrator to use his imagination and explains the world in one's imagination that can be just as real as the outside world. Though an introvert, Tridib is very close to the narrator. Tridib narrates the London life, his attachment with May Price. Though his grandmother tries hard to keep away the narrator from the attachment of Tridib, he likes him very much and judges him according to his own views. He realizes, Tridib uses his education for personal liberation. He makes his own choices and is happy the way he is. The narrator worships Tridib and secretly wants to be like him. The narrator through various types of memories and interprets him according to his own sense. The narrator remembers how his grandmother used to be in his childhood. The same after her retirement tries to live her own life. Tha’mma was great fond of narrator. She always tried to insist practicality the narrator. She gives preference to the practical point rather than emotions. The narrator remembers his

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grandmother’s reactions about Ila. She dislikes her very much so shows great hatred for growing attraction for Ila in the mind of narrator. Tha’mma is a big link of memory. She narrates various events from her childhood about partition of house and various others related with her house at Dhaka. Tha’mma and Mayadebi who are sisters in their childhood when they lost their grandfather, their uncle, Jethamosai tries to take his place but couldn’t get success. Afterward the brothers, Jethamosai and this sister’s father got separated by partitioning each and everything. This partition is the first glimpse of partition of India and Pakistan that Tha’mma looks at her childhood. Tha’mma gets married and three years later her sister marries with a big diplomat Saheb. Even after losing her husband Tha’mma doesn’t accept the help of anyone and becomes a teacher and controls the situation. She narrates various memories of Tridib according to her own interpretations. She associates Tridib with people of lower social status because he moves at public spaces that are not respectable according to Tha’mma. ‘She (Tha’mma) had deep horror of the young men who spent their time at the street- corner staring’ (The Shadow Lines 07). Therefore she wants to keep Tridib out of her personal space. Thamma’s visit to Jethamoshai is significant in this regard who is physically present in the east Pakistan. Although Tha’mma has lost touch with Jethamoshai and his family for a long time, still she wants to bring him back as she wants him to be with his own people. She reminds herself again and again that it is ‘her duty to take him away from his past and thrust him into the future.’( The Shadow Lines 230). Jethamoshai would not let (Muslim) people in his personal space earlier but later with passage of time he lives and eats with them. After partition he lives with Khalil, a Muslim family. She is unable to realize his closeness and connections with ‘Khalil’s family’, a family with whom he was living. She feels surprised ‘Does Khalil’s wife cook for him too?’ ( The Shadow Lines 231) One of the memories of Ila that tells how stories are relevant to the real life i.e. Ila draws a map in the dust of Mrs. Price's house and adds a room for Magda, her doll, who is the baby for the purposes of the game. When everything is set, Ila tells the narrator what "happened" to Magda at school that day. She tells, "the ugly school bully chased the beautiful blonde Magda home, but Nick Price saved her from being beaten up". When Ila starts to cry, the narrator is angry and doesn't understand why she's crying. Finally, Tridib walks in with the children and listens to the narrator 25

telling Ila's story. He explains the reason of Ila’s crying that the story is real that already happened in her life. Only difference in the story and reality was that on the place of Magda Ila herself was there and Nick Price did not save her from the bully. It was just an expectation of Ila. According to Tridib everyone in the stories lives in real life. There are several memories about social unrest and communal riots that display the relationship between nationalism and its association with brutality. It is understood that the novel is written with the intention of acknowledging the consequences of partition. The events of 1947 are joined with disturbing psychology of Indians, border issues, sectarian hostility and violence in the nation. Kaustav Mukherjee in his writing Chasing Ghosts and Making History: Ghosh, Tagore, and Postcolonial India (2015) comments, “ …during the Calcutta riots of 1964, a man manages to survive a brutal knife attack… as days go by, his mind starts showing a delayed response …These symptoms are the result of a condition that Freud calls traumatic neurosis.” (Mukherjee: 2015: 11) In the novel narrator says about Tha’mma’s (his grandmother) concept of birthplace (Dhaka in East Pakistan) and nationality (Indian), ‘at that moment she had not been able to quite understand how her place of birth had come to be so messily at odds with her nationality.’( The Shadow Lines 168). ‘Where’s Dhaka?’ asked Tha’mma, when she visits again in 1964, for her ‘Dhaka was the city that had surrounded their own house’ ( The Shadow Lines 214). The borders or these lines of division are not visible and Tha’mma, the grandmother, who ‘wanted to know whether she would be able to see the border between India and East Pakistan from the plane.’( The Shadow Lines 167). ‘But if there aren’t any trenches or anything, how are people to know…What was it all for then – Partition and all the killing and everything – if there isn’t.” Robi who is a small boy while living in Dhaka is a direct evidence of the scene of Tridib’s murder. Tha’mma and Mayadebi go to bring Jethamosai from Dhaka to India for his safety. But while coming back a gang attacks them in which while saving Jethamosai and May, Tridib loses his life. The mob kills Tridib, Khalil, rickshaw driver and Jethamosai. Robi gets haunted by this scene severally when he becomes grown up. It is Robi who clarifies all the details of this event. There is one more source to recall the memory i.e. May Price, Mrs. Price’s daughter. May Price is located far away from Calcutta but distance does not create border here. She still becomes a part of Tridib’s personal space. It is May whose memory reflects the harsh

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reality of communal attack on Khali, Jethamosai and Tridib in which all meet to their ends…. 1.4.3 The Theme of Nationalism: Amitav Ghosh is one of the major Indian-English novelists who is anxious with the Bengal Partition. The partition of India created several problems. Many suffered through it. This suffering becomes the subject of writing for the writers. Amitav Ghosh treats the theme of nationalism in his novel The Shadow Lines . This novel provides ample opportunity to observe and color the concept of nationalism. The novel displays the complexity of national identity. The Shadow Lines written in 1988 is the author’s reply to another strange event in Post Colonial Indian scene: the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots that moved the whole nation after the assassination of Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards. The novel displays the changes that take place at individual level and at national and international levels. The characters in the novel are described associated with the growth of Calcutta as a city and India as a nation over a period of three decades or more. Obviously the events those look private in the author’s life and other important characters happen in the shadow of political events. The author selects the character of Tha’mma, the grandmother of the narrator to evaluate the issue of the Bengal Partition, concept of Nation and Nationalism. The Shadow Lines depicts the fact that partition divided the nations on the basis of religions that caused millions of people to migrate from one part to the other. During this migration thousands of people lost their lives and millions became homeless. But the memories could not be wiped. These migrated people suffered through the nostalgia, the memories of birth place, and their childhood. The border line that was created for political purpose could not divide one nation into two. For them these newly formed two nations still was one whole country. Amitav Ghosh presents this fact to the readers through different characters. Tha’mma symbolizes nationalist movements of India and has been an inspiration for the narrator. He uses his grandmother’s eyes to see her life in Dhaka as a young girl, her uncle and cousins, the other side of the big house where everything was upside down. Tha’mma represents India’s national identity in the Nationalist Movement. She is an immigrant from Dhaka but her passionate love of India cannot be questioned. She goes back to Dhaka after 20 years to bring her uncle to Calcutta as a revolution going

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on in Dhaka. In Dhaka she gets shocked to see the changes at her birth place. She feels as if she is a foreigner. Tridib comments on it and says, “But you are a foreigner now, you’re as foreigner here as May – much more than May, for look at her, she doesn’t need a visa to come here” ( The Shadow Lines ,195). While filling in a form in Dhaka, Tha’mma writes her nationality as ‘Indian’ without any hesitation but immediately she becomes full of confusion. She thinks, her birth place is Dhaka means she is from Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), or presently she is living in Calcutta so Indian. There are a lot of questions that arise in her mind. She doesn’t understand how the partition has changed her nationality, how one’s nationality changes if the nation is separated. The novel presents here beautiful solution to this confusion through the character of Jethamoshai, Thamma’s uncle. He says, “I don’t believe in this India-Shindia. …suppose when you get there they decide to draw another line somewhere. What will you do then? Where will you move to...? As for me, I was born here and I’ll die here” ( The Shadow Lines 106). He becomes the victim of the communal rioting in Dhaka. The same person who proudly speaks about his own country and rejects to leave Dhaka can’t become safe. The situation here says that even the people who had not migrated from own country were not safe. Narrator’s uncle, his inspiration, Tridib also dies in the incident. Tha’mma, though born in Dhaka in Bangladesh (then East Pakistan), is a true Indian at heart. She used to dream when she was in college to be a part of the militant groups which were fighting for India’s freedom. She was fascinated by the acts of dare-devilry performed by the freedom fighters against the British imperialists. She didn’t know much about the freedom struggle but she was a lover of nationalism. So she was ready to even wash utensils, cook food and wash clothes if she could become a part of the freedom movement. The novel shows that even after the partition no one remained safe. Still there were so many Muslims in East Pakistan who were giving shelter to the Hindus, often at the cost of their own lives and equally of the Hindus protecting the Muslims as Jethamosai is shown taken care by Khalil . Though Calcutta and Dhaka belong to two different nations, separated from each other by the borders, the two places are closely attached to each other. The impact of a political event in Dhaka was showing impact on Calcutta. Shobha Tiwari in her book Amitav Ghosh: A Critical Study comments, “Ghosh questions the very basis of modern nation states. It does not matter how many states exist in a continent or sub continent. It does not change the well being of its people. Nationhood itself is

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a mirage because it is not based on any logic. When nature draws line in the form of mountains, oceans, rivers, it is real. But manmade borders are shallow and unjustifiable.” Thus, Ghosh explores the theme of partition of a modern nation and has asserted futile action of the political machinery in power. 1.4.4 Significance of Title Amitav Ghosh’s The Shadow Lines describes the story about an Indian family and an English family since 1960 covering three decades and three cities-Calcutta, London and Dhaka. The Partition of 1947, which drew imaginary lines across India the nation, by making the countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh and India caused much destruction through the communal violence and riots. The title of this fascinating work relates to a key concern of post colonialism - that of borders and boundaries. It evaluates the worthless and useless attempts of creating boundaries. The novel is the commentary on how these boundaries can’t separate the minds, imagination and sense of nativity and origin. It is an amazing story that lapses several borders. It is Postcolonial criticism that examines and criticizes man-made boundaries and borders. The novel depicts the suffering, the death and devastation caused by a shadow line of borders that could not wipe out the connections among human beings. The border lines are the attempts to define a particular group as against another group. Postcolonial criticism attempts to crack these apparently secure boundaries by examining those who live on the margins of these boundaries and also deconstructing the notion of the other. Tha’mma feels surprised about the borders as she expects something that is shown in the maps with some colorful lines. She comments about seeing the border from the air, “But if there aren't any trenches or anything, how are people to know? I mean, where's the difference then? And if there's no difference both sides will be the same; it'll be just like it used to be before, when we used to catch a train in Dhaka and get off in Calcutta the next day . . . “( The Shadow Lines 151) Even through Ghosh comments on the uselessness of the boundaries when he suggests "...why don’t they draw thousands of little lines through the whole subcontinent and give every little place a new name? What would it change? It’s a mirage; the whole thing is a mirage.” It is these shadow lines that the title of this work refers to.

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1.4.5 Historical Factors and Their Narratives in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines The Shadow Lines is Ghosh’s second novel, who has secured his place as one of the India’s most celebrated post-Rushdie generation of authors in Indian English writing. The text interconnects personal memory, family love and public history. It is a continuous narrative which shows the pattern of violence not only of 1964 but also of 21st century. The fragmentary narratives unfold the narrator’s experiences in the form of memories which move backward and forward. The novel is a work of historical fiction that deals with the geographical area around the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean. Though the partition of British India is mostly a background event in The Shadow Lines , it is partially responsible for the conflicts that the narrator and his family experience over the course of the novel. The novel also develops in the background of post colonial conflicts and the effects. From fifteenth century several European powers developed colonies and established trading relationships with India from its "discovery". Great Britain gained control over most of the Indian subcontinent in the early nineteenth century and started ruling India. But the Independence movement in India made English rulers to leave India. While leaving India Great Britain promised India the freedom in exchange of fighting for them in the two world wars. Great Britain only followed through after the second. This resulted in Partition, during which British India split into East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), West Pakistan (now Pakistan), and India. The Partition happened in August of 1947, and though the British, Indian, and Pakistani Governments took religion into account, the new borders created minorities of Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs where there hadn't been before. This caused extreme violence, especially in the region of Punjab, which was split between West Pakistan and India. This religious animosity continued (and still does to this day), and it's partly what led to the riots that the narrator and Tridib experiences from 1963 to 1964 in Calcutta and Dhaka, which became the capital of East Pakistan. Amitav Ghosh skillfully places facts in his narratives, historical events written in the fictional language and fictional matter treated as history, thus giving the effect of presence and absence of history at the same time. Although, chronologically, the story begins with a passage of time in colonial India when the narrator was not even born, it embraces a good deal of postcolonial moments, and all the episodes are held

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in simultaneous focus to illuminate the narrative resolution. The novel begins thus: “In 1939, thirteen years before I was born, my father’s aunt Maya Debi went to England with her husband and her son Tridib” ( The Shadow Lines p.3). The year 1939 is historically significant for the outbreak of the Second World War and the phenomenal upheavals on the Indian subcontinent coming in its wake. Mayadebi’s visit to London around this time, her intimate contact with the Price family and the Tridib-May component of the story are recounted by Tridib twenty-one years later to the narrator, an eight-year-old inquisitive child. May was a little baby when Tridib saw her in London. A romantic relationship between them has developed through correspondence, transcending the shadow lines of nationality and cultural boundaries. The public chronicles of nations are interrogated through the means of graphic details of individual memories that do not necessarily tally with the official version of history. For instance, the narrator himself is a witness to the riots in Calcutta in 1964, but when he tries to prove it to his colleagues using the traditional medium of recording history – i.e. the newspaper – he initially meets disappointment. He has woven fact and fiction in a complex and absorbing narratives. 1.4.6 Check Your Progress Answer in one word/phrase/sentence. 1. To whom does the narrator narrate the events in the novel? 2. How does the narrator know the world without visiting the places? 3. Which character in the novel symbolizes nationality? 4. What does Tha’mma write in a form in Dhaka as her nationality? 5. What does the title consider as useless attempt of the politicians? 1.4.7 Terms to Remember • Nationalism – patriotism • Migrate – travel • Immigrant – refugee • Worthless – valueless • Deconstructing - taking apart

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1.5 Summary: In this unit, we have discussed about the life and works of Amitav Ghosh and about the plot and summary, the characters used by him in the novel and themes and significance of title of the novel The Shadow Lines. All these points, no doubt, would be helpful for the students. They will enhance the knowledge and understanding of the novel. The students should read the original text and discuss the points, the themes and other aspects of the novel. 1.6 Exercises Answer the following: 1. Discuss The Shadow Lines as the novel of memory 2. Draw the character sketch of Tridib 3. Draw the character sketch of Tha’mma 4. Discuss The Shadow Lines as the historical novel 5. Discuss the theme of political unrest presented in the novel The Shadow Lines . 6. Historical factors and their narratives in Amitav Ghosh's The Shadow Lines. Write Short notes 1. Relationship between the narrator and Tridib 2. Post-colonial situation in the novel The Shadow Lines 3. Character sketch of May Price 4. The end of the novel 5. The title of the novel 6. Character sketch of Ila JJJ

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Unit-2 Narrative Techniques : The Calcutta Chromosome

1.1 Objectives: After studying this unit, you will be able: 1) To explore the narrative techniques used in the novel The Calcutta Chromosome 2) To understand the role of the narrative techniques in shaping of the narrative 3) To explain the style of Amitav Ghosh as a postcolonial Indian writer. 4) To enumerate the experiments made by Amitav Ghosh in his present novel 5) To note the significance of The Calcutta Chromosome in Amitav Ghosh's literary career. 1.2 Introduction Amitav Ghosh is one of the major Indian writers writing remarkable fiction and non-fiction in English today. He was born on 11 th July, 1956 in erstwhile Calcutta. He had his schooling in The Doon School in Dehradun., Then he went to St. Stephen's College, which is a constituent college of Delhi University for his college education. He did his post-graduation in Delhi School of Economics. Then, he got the Inlaks foundation scholarship with help of which he went to England for completing Ph.D., in social Anthropology at Edmund Hall, Oxford. Amitav Ghosh's literary career began in his school life itself. He used to contribute his early fiction and poetry to the "Doon School Weekly" which was edited by his contemporary Vikram Seth, who, along with Amitav Ghosh, later emerged as one of the major writers of Indian English fiction. Ghosh also founded a magazine entitled "'History Times" along with his friend Ramchandra Guha, who later became a very famous historian. Amitav Ghosh began his career with his job at Indian Express in New Delhi. Then he joined the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta and Centre for Development Studies in Trivendram in 1999. Later, he joined the Queens College, City University of New York as the distinguished Professor of Comparative

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Literature. Besides this, Ghosh has also been working as a visiting Professor in the Department of English of the Harvard University. Amitav Ghosh has written many remarkable novels so far. He published his debut novel The Circle of Reason in the year 1986. Then he published his several other significant novels like The Shadow Lines (1998), The Calcutta Chromosome (1995), The Glass Palace (2000), The Hungry Tide (2004), and Sea of Poppies (2008), Flood of Fire (2015). The last three novels form of trilogy called The Ibis trilogy. Amitav Ghosh has written a lot of non-fiction as well. His noteworthy non- fiction writings are: In an Antique Land (1992), Dancing in Cambodia and at Large in Burma (1998), Countdown (1999), and The Imam and the Indian (2002, The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016). Ghosh has received several important awards for his writings. His first novel The Circle of Reason got the Prix Medicis Etranger, one of the top literary awards of France. His novel The Shadow Lines received the Sahitya Akadami Award and the Ananda Puraskar. The Calcutta Chromosome got the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Sea of Poppies was shortlisted for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. It was the co-winner of the Vodafone Crossword Book Award in 2009, as well as co-winner of the 2010 Dan David Prize. River of Smoke was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize 2011. The Government of India awarded him the Padmashri in 2007. He also received - together with Margaret Atwood - the Israeli Dan David Prize. Recently, Amitav Ghosh got the 54th Gnyanpith Award in December 2018 and he is the first Indian writer in English to receive this honour. 1.3 Summary: I - The Calcutta Chromosome (1995) We are going to study Amitav Ghosh's novel The Calcutta Chromosome (1995). It is one of the most complex novels by Amitav Ghosh. It is described as a medical thriller as it is based on the life of Sir Ronald Ross (1857-1932), who got the Nobel Prize for his unparalleled research on Malaria. It was he who discovered that malaria is caused by the mosquitoes. In fact, the novel deals with the ventures of some people who are brought together in some mysterious ways. This novel is a very interesting combination of certain scientific facts and fiction as well as past and future.

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The story of the novel is set in two cities: Calcutta and New York. Although the time of the events spans the 1990s, there is a reference to some indefinite future too. The novel has so many characters but the story mainly revolves around the two, namely - Antar and Murugan. Antar is an Egyptian man in the future who is on the verge of his retirement. He works as a data analyst in the International Water Council in New York. When the novel begins, he happens to see the remains of an identity card on his computer Ava. And then begins his journey to Calcutta in search of the man called Murugan who has disappeared all of a sudden in the year 1995. Murugan worked in LifeWatch organization where Antar also worked earlier. Murugan was fascinated by the life of Sir Ronald Ross who stayed in Calcutta for his research on Malaria. So Murugan, who was working in New York, got himself transferred to Calcutta. So, Antar tries to trace the movements of Murugan through the digital archives. Antar also tries to dig into other historical documents and comes to the conclusion that Murugan had discovered the secret behind Sir Ronald Ross' breakthrough research on malaria. In his opinion, it was not Sir Ronald Ross who discovered the malaria parasite. If fact, it was a "counter-science" group of native Indians who helped Ross with their own mysterious "science". Though, Sir Ronald Ross received the Nobel Prize for his research on the transfer of malaria parasite through the mosquitoes, his research had wider implications. There was a group of native Indian mystics who believed that a chromosome can be transferred from one body to the other thereby leading to immortality. The followers of this belief can transfer their chromosomes to another person and in course of time can become that person. Thus, they can live an eternal life. So, it was believed that a group of such mystics helped Sir Ronald Ross reach his conclusion about malaria. This chromosome is strange. It cannot be detected or isolated by using the standard techniques. It is not necessarily present in every cell. It is not even paired systematically. It does not get transferred from one generation to other generation as the other chromosomes do. It is believed that it develops through a process of recombination which may be unique in every individual. It may be found only in the brain where there is a non-generating tissue. It can be transferred through malaria. Therefore, Murugan calls it "the Calcutta Chromosome". He wants to trace this chromosome. That is why he has come to Calcutta. However, on arriving there he himself gets lost somewhere in a mysterious way. Though there are other strands in the story, this disappearance of Murugan is central to the novel.

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1.4 Check your Progress I 1) When was The Calcutta Chromosome published? 2) Who is Antar? 3) Who is Murugan? 4) When did Murugan come to Calcutta? 5) Where does the novel begin? 1.5 Summary: II Amitav Ghosh has divided The Calcutta Chromosome into two parts. The first part deals with Murugan's arrival in Calcutta on 20th August, 1995. It is significant to note that 20 th August is a World Mosquito Day and on this very day Murugan arrives in Calcutta from New York with a plan to study the life and times of Sir Ronald Ross as well as a plan to trace the Calcutta Chromosome. The second part is about the next day when Murugan himself gets lost mysteriously. This part deals with all the consequent events. 1.6 Check Your Progress II 1) How many parts is the novel divided into? 2) Where does Antar work? 3) Why does Murugan come to Calcutta? 4) Which day is celebrated as the World Mosquito Day? 5) Who gets lost mysteriously in Calcutta? 1.7 Summary: III As mentioned earlier on, The Calcutta Chromosome is a very complex narrative. It is a multilayered novel. It not only combines various micro-narratives with the main story but also it combines historical and medical facts with fiction and oral narratives. At the same time, it breaks the linearity of time i.e. past, present and future and moves freely in time from past to future and vice-versa. Amitav Ghosh employs multifarious narrative strategies in order to shape the intricate narrative of The Calcutta Chromosome. We may note a few of those strategies here.

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A) Polyphonic Narrative: This is a term used by a Russian narratologist Mikhail Bakhtin. He distinguishes between a "monologic narrative" and "dialogic narrative". In a traditional monologic narrative, there is a dominance of the authorial voice. On the contrary, in dialogic narrative, the characters in that narrative are free to have their own voices and Worldviews. Form this point of view, The Calcutta Chromosome is certainly a dialogic narrative as it has polyphonic voices. There are different characters used as the narrators of the novel. Antar, Murugan, Urmila Roy and Sonali Das contribute to the narrative in their own way at different points. Even Murugan's computer Ava can be treated as a narrator. The language and style of narration changes from character to character. B) Use of Magic Realism as Narrative Strategy: Just as Amitav Ghosh uses various characters as the narrators of his polyphonic narrative, he also combines the elements of facts and fiction which results in magic realism. Apparently, the main story is based on the life and times of Sir Ronald Ross. So, memoirs and historical documents are used as narrative devices. At the same time, many oral narratives of the native Indians are skillfully used. The novel begins in the future 21 st century: IF THE SYSTEM hadn't stalled Antar would never have guessed that the scrap of paper on his screen was the remnant of an ID card. It looked as though it had been rescued from a fire: its plastic laminate had warped and melted along the edges. The lettering was mostly illegible and the photograph had vanished under a smudge of soot. But a four-inch metal chain had somehow stayed attached: it hung down in a rusty loop from a perforation in the top left-hand corner, like a drooping tail. It was the chain that tripped the system, not the card. The card turned up in one of those routine inventories that went flashing around the globe with metronomic regularity, for no reason that Antar could understand, except that it was what the system did best. Once it got started it would keep them coming, hour after hour, an endless succession of documents and objects, stopping only when it stumbled on something it couldn't file: the most trivial things usually (The Calcutta Chromosome 1).

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Then it moves back to the turn of 20 th century. And then goes still backward to the 19 th century. Piciucco notes the temporal and spatial movement of the narrative as follows: 1. Past: A period of time from the last decades of the 1800s up to the 1930s. The setting is generally India, with most scenes set in Calcutta. A key protagonist is real-life British bacteriologist Ronald Ross who gained fame for (supposedly) discovering the link between the anopheles mosquito and malarial infection. 2. Present: Since the novel was published in 1995, "present" time is in line with the technological developments and general circumstances of this decade. Events in the novel occur in a limited but crucial period of time, which spans a few weeks up to 21 August 1995. Half of the story takes place in New York, half in Calcutta and its surroundings. The protagonist is the Bengali clerk Murugan. 3. Future: There are no hints to a specific period of time in the whole novel. We may reasonably presume that the action takes place within the first two decades of the 21st century, more or less our present. The location is New York, and the protagonist is Antar, an Egyptian computer archivist (212). On one hand, Ghosh intends to present the entire novel as a science fiction; on the other hand, he uses other modes of narratives like a historical novel. By introducing an element of mysticism and magic realism Ghosh intends to destabilize the epistemological foundation of science. That is why, Ghosh says that "Knowledge can't begin without acknowledging the impossibility of knowledge'' (The Calcutta Chromosome 104). C) Networking of Multiple Stories: According to Claire Chambers, Amitav Ghosh presents a network of various stories in his present novel The Calcutta Chromosome. She remarks, "The Calcutta Chromosome is replete with both types of textuality. Hypertextuality is evident in Ghosh's negotiations with Ronald Ross's diaries and Memoirs. A more general architextuality is apparent in the relationship of novel with the genres of science fiction, cyberpunk, nineteenth-century ghost stories, and so on" (43). She further mentions that all the events in the novel which take place in India, Egypt and United States of America are connected in such a way that they together form a network of stories. 6

D) Silence as a Narrative Strategy: One of the unique features of The Calcutta Chromosome is its use of silence as a narrative strategy. On one hand, it contributes to the magic realism crafted in the novel and, on the other hand, it attempts to destabilize the epistemological basis of western science. Alessandro Vescovi argues in this regard thus: Following in the footsteps of Rabindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Renu, and J. P. S. Uberoi, Ghosh dramatizes the encounter between Western science, with its accompanying epistemology, and Indian tradition. The novel challenges the relentless west-driven search for knowledge, epitomized by the supercomputer named Ava, and suggests that only different epistemological premises, based on silence, can counteract Western rationalism. The novel's literary technique mirrors this preoccupation in that it tells a story from two different viewpoints, one of which remains silent throughout. Narrating the viewpoint of a silent agent raises a number of problems to the reliability of the narrator, who properly speaking is only a "guesser." The whole narrative revolves around a foundational mystery that remains unknown to all characters. In order to do so, the implied author must write about something of which he too remains ignorant (37). The subaltern characters like Mangala remain silent in the novel. Nevertheless, Ghosh uses this silence of the native Indians as a tool for resisting the so called eloquence of the western science and its epistemological basis. E) Cinematic Technique: Amitav Ghosh also employs the cinematic technique along with other narrative strategies. For instance, he uses the flash-back technique to move back into the past events spanning a period around three centuries. He also breaks the linearity of time presents events as though they are presented on a screen. He uses a non-human narrator i.e. a computer named Ava which presents the details in a cinematic way. In a sense, Amitav Ghosh presents a "network of multiple stories" rather than a single, linear narrative. Nevertheless, the most important strand of the story - which remains untold throughout - is unfurled through silence. Hence, it may be said that silence is one of the most significant strategies employed by the writer. Amitav Ghosh also uses what is called the cinematic technique of narration. Here, he has made use of computer-mediated mode of narration by presenting Ava - which is just an electronic machine - as a narrator. 7

In short, it may be mentioned that The Calcutta Chromosome is Amitav Ghosh's one of the most complex and experimental novels. 1.8 Check Your Progress III 1) Who used the term "polyphonic narrative"? 2) Which characters are used as narrators of the novel? 3) What is the name of Antar's computer? 4) In which century does the novel begin? 5) Who thinks that The Calcutta Chromosome is a "network of stories"? 6) In what way silence is used in the novel? 7) Which technique is used to move in time freely? 8) Who remains silent in the novel? 9) What does Amitav Ghosh want to destabilize through silence? 10) When can knowledge begin according to Amitav Ghosh? 1.9 Summary As we have noted earlier on, The Calcutta Chromosome is a very complex novel by Amitav Ghsoh. Its complexity is not only because of its theme of medical discovery and the search for a lost character; it is also because of the various narrative techniques and strategies employed in the novel. As the title of the novel suggests, the novel is all about fevers, delirium and discovery. However, it is less about fevers but more about delirium and discovery. The theme of discovery has several layers. First and foremost, it is a discovery of malaria parasite which is transmitted through mosquitoes. As per the scientific documents, this discovery was made by Sir Ronald Ross in Calcutta for which he got the Nobel Prize. Secondly, it is a discovery by Murugan who gets himself transferred to Calcutta in order to trace the life and times of Sir Ronald Ross who lived there during his experiments. Third, it is discovery by Antar who tries to trace Murugan - with the help of his computer and Ava and other digital archives - who got lost in Calcutta on the very next day of his arrival there. Fourth, it is also a discovery by the writer of the life of the so called "counter-science" group of native Indians. Finally, it is a discovery of a strange "chromosome" which can enable an individual attain immortality. 8

In order to deal with this multi-faceted theme, Amitav Ghosh has various narrative strategies. He has skillfully used the polyphonic narrative technique to narrate different micro-narrative with the help different characters. He has used magic realism deliberately as it enables him to mix the historical and scientific facts with the events which are completely fictional. 1.10 Glossary

G Ava: It is a name of the computer which is used by Antar, one of the employees of International Water Council. It shows the details about the identity and the whereabouts of Murugan.

G Chromosome: any of the rod-like struct ures found in all living cells, containing the chemical patterns that control what an animal or plant is like (Cambridge English Dictionary)

G Computer mediated Communication: communication with the help of an electronic device i.e. computer

G Counter-science group: It is a group of native Indians who are mystical in nature.

G Delirium: a state of being unable to think or speak clearly because of fever or mental confusion (Cambridge English Dictionary)

G Digital Archives: collections of historical records relating to a place, organization, or family stored in a digital format.

G Discovery: the process of f inding information, a place, or an object, especially for the first time, or the thing that is found (Cambridge English Dictionary).

G Fever: a medical condition in which the body temperature is higher than usual and the heart beats very fast (Cambridge English Dictionary).

G International Water Council: A New York based company mentioned in the novel.

G LifeWatch : It was a small but respected non-profit organization that served as a global public health consultancy and epidemiological data bank.

G Malaria Parasite: a protozoan of the sporozoan genus Plasmodium that is transmitted to humans or to certain other mammals or birds by the bite of a

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mosquito in which its sexual reproduction takes place, that multiplies asexually in the vertebrate host by schizogony in the red blood cells or in certain tissue cells, and that causes destruction of red blood cells and the febrile disease malaria or produces gametocytes by sporogony which if taken up by a suitable mosquito initiate a new sexual cycle (Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary).

G Plasmodium : a motile multinucleate mass of protoplasm resulting from fusion of uninucleate amoeboid cells (Merriam Webster Medical Dictionary).

G Plasmodium Falciparum Parasite: It is a unicellular protozoan parasite of humans, and the deadliest species of Plasmodium thai cause malaria in humans. It is transmitted through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito. It is responsible for roughly 50% of all malaria cases. It causes the disease's most dangerous form called falciparum malaria. It is therefore regarded as the deadliest parasite in humans (Wikipedia).

G Sir Ronal Ross: A British poet, novelist and scientist born in India in 1857. He arguably discovered the malaria parasite in the year 1898 and got the Nobel Prize for this achievement in the year 1902. th G World Mosquito Day: this day is observed annually on 20 August, in commemoration of British doctor Sir Ronald Ross's discovery in 1897. He discovered that female mosquitoes transmit malaria among humans. 1.11 Answers to Check Your Progress I 1. 1995 2. Antar is an Egyptian man in the future who works as a data analyst in the International Water Council in New York. 3. Murugan is Antar's colleague in Life Watch. 4. 20 th August, 1995. 5. New York 1.12 Answers to Check Your Progress II 1. Two Parts 2. International Water Council

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3. To study the life and times of Sir Ronald Ross 4. 20 th August, 1995 5. Murugan 1.13 Answers to Check Your Progress III 1. Mikhail Bakhtin 2. Antar, Murugan, Urmila Roy and Sonali Das 3. Ava 4. 21 st Century 5. Claire Chambers 6. As a narrative strategy 7. Cinematic technique 8. The subaltern characters like Mangala 9. Epistemological hegemony of western science 10. Only when one acknowledges the impossibility of knowledge 1.14 Exercises 1. Explore the various themes in the novel The Calcutta Chromosome. 2. Narrate the different sub-stories in the novel The Calcutta Chromosome in your own words. 3. Write a character sketch of Murugan 4. Write a character sketch of Antar 5. Write a character sketch of Sir Ronald Ross 6. Write a character sketch of Lutchman 7. Write a character sketch of Managala 8. Write a character sketch of Sonali 9. Write a character sketch of Urmila 10. Write a character sketch of Phulboni

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11. Discuss The Calcutta Chromosome as a post-colonial narrative 12. Discuss various narrative techniques used in the novel and their significance 13. Discuss the implications of the title of the novel 14. Discuss Amitav Ghosh as an experimental writer with reference to The Calcutta Chromosome . 15. Discuss how Amitav Ghosh questions the supremacy of the western epistemology through his novel The Calcutta Chromosome. 1.15 References 1. Piciucco, Pier. Postmodern Strategies in Writing by Amitav Ghosh: The Case of The Calcutta Chromosome, Postcolonial Literature Today, eds. Jagdish Batra &Alan Johnson Prestige 2. Ghosh, Amitav. The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery (1995) Alfred A Knope, Canada. 3. Chambers, Claire. Networks of Stories: Amitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome https://www.researchgate.net/publication/29Q956998 15 May 2017. 4. Vescovi, Alessandro. Emplotting the Postcolonial: Epistemology and Narratology in Amitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313848031 Ariel 48(1), Jan 2017. Pp.37-69. Unformatted Doc. Further Reading 1. Arnpurna Rath and Milind Malashe, "Chronotopes in the Chromosome: A Chronotopic Analysis of The Calcutta Chromosome" in Polyuha, Mykola, Clive Thomson, and Anthony Wall eds. Dialogues with Bakhtinian Theory: Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Mikhail Bakhtin Conference. London: Mestengo Press, 2012. 2. Banarjee, Suparno. The Calcutta Chromosome: A Novel Silence, Slippage and Subversion, in Hoagland Ericka; and Sarwal, Reema, eds. Science Fiction, Imperialism and The Third World: Essays on Postcolonial Literature and Film. Jefferson N.C.: McFarland, 2010.

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3. Bhattacharya, Shayani. "The Silence of the Subaltern. The Rejection of History and Language in Amitav Ghosh's The Calcutta Chromosome" Environments in Science Fiction: Essays on Alternative Spaces. Eds. Bernardo, Susan M, Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III Vol. 44. Jefferson: McFarland, 2014.

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Unit-4 The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh

Contents 4.0 Objectives: 4.1 Amitav Ghosh: Life and Works 4.1.1 Check Your Progress 4.1.2 Terms to Remember 4.2 The Plot of The Hungry Tide 4.2.1 Check Your Progress 4.2.2 Terms to Remember 4.3 Comprehensive Summary and Analysis 4.3.1 Check Your Progress 4.3.2 Terms to Remember 4.4 Major and Minor Characters 4.4.1 Check Your Progress 4.5 Myth and Ecological Concerns in The Hungry Tide 4.6 Human Space and Landscape in The Hungry Tide /Nature versus Man in The Hungry Tide 4.7 Answers to Check Your Progress 4.8 Exercises 4.9 References for further study

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4.0 Objectives: After studying this unit you will be able to:
Understand Amitav Ghosh as a novelist and his contribution to the Colonial and Post-colonial Indian English Novel.
Familiar with the plot, characters, themes and critical aspects of the novel.
Understand myth and ecological concerns in The Hungry Tide . 4.1 Amitav Ghosh: Life and Works Amitav Ghosh was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on July 11 th , 1956 in a Bengali Family. He was educated at the all-boys Doon School, where he edited ‘The Doon School Weekly.’ After his school education, Ghosh received degrees from St.Stephen’s College (University of Delhi) and Delhi School of Economics. Ghosh grew up in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), Sri Lanka, Iran and India. As a youngster he was brought up on the stories of Partition, Independence and the Second World War. History was his prime obsession. His fiction reflects political and historical consciousness. Ghosh authored ‘ The Circle of Reason (1986), The Shadow Lines (1988), The Calcutta Chromosome (1995), The Glass Palace (2000), The Hungry Tide (2004), and The Ibis trio logy set in the nineteenth century – Sea of Poppies (2008), River of Smoke (2011) and Flood of Fire (2015). Most of his works deal with a historical setting. Ghosh’s notable non-fiction writings are In An Antique Land (1992), Dancing in Cambodia At large in Burma (1998), Countdown (1999), The Imam and the Indian (2002), Incendiary Circumstances (2006). Critics praise Ghosh for his portrayal of characters, traditions and brilliant narrative technique. His novels received different prestigious awards. The Circle of Reason won the Prix. Medieis etranger, one of France’s top literary Awards. The Shadow Lines won the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award and the Anand Puraskar . The Calculta Cromosome won the Arthur C.Clark award in 1997. Sea of Poppies was short listed for the 2008 Man Booker Prize. River of Smoke was short listed for the Man Asian Literary Prize, 2011.

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Amitav Ghosh lives in New York with his wife Deborah Baker. Ghosh has been a fellow at the centre of Study in Social Sciences, Calcutta and centre for Development Studies in Trivendrum. He has been also a visiting Professor at the Department of English of Harward University since 2005. Ghosh was awarded the Padmashri in 2007 and in the year 2009, he was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His Works 1) The Circle of Reason (1986) This work is inspired by Herman Melville’s nineteenth century classic Moby Dick . It is a story of flight and pursuit. It describes the adventures of Alu, a young weaver. He is suspected as a terrorist. He is chased by an inspector from Bengal to Bombay and on through the Persian Gulf to North Africa. The work is divided into three sections, comprising the three main phases of the protagonist’s life. 2) The Shadow Lines (1988) For the novel Ghosh was awarded with the prestigious ‘Sahitya Akademi Award ’ in 1989. The novel focuses on the narrator’s family in Calcutta and Dhaka and their connection with an English family in London. The novel depicts the lives of two different, yet intertwined families, one Indian and one English. The novel refers to the blurred lines between nations, land and families as well as within one’s own identity. 3) In An Antique Land (1992) It was first published in India in 1992 and abroad the following year. It is based on the author’s Sojourn in Egypt. He visited Egypt in order to leave Arabic and to undertake historical research on a group of twelfth-century Jewish Tunisians. In An Antique Land discovers ancient and modern cultures of the trio-Jewish, Arabic and Hindu. The book rediscovers history and relationship between India and Egypt. 4) The Calcutta Chromosome (1995) This novel won the Arthur C. Clark Award for 1997. The novel is called as “a kind of mystery thriller.’ There are multiple characters and swift turns in the plots. The novel can be read as a science fiction.

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5) Dancing in Cambodia, At large in Burma (1998) This work is in the form of travelogue and it reveals the writer’s perceptions about the socio-political situations in Cambodia and Burma. 6) Countdown (1999) It is about the nuclear lobby in both India and Pakistan. 7) The Glass Palace It is a story of Rajkumar an Indian boy of eleven years old, who is an orphan. He is in Mandalay (Burma) who works in a tea-stall owned by a woman called Ma Cho a half-Indian. The novel is set primarily in India and Burma. 8) The Hungry Tide (2004) The novel takes its setting as the sea and plains of Bengal Sundarbans. The story moves around three characters Piyali Roy, Kanai Dutt and Fokir. 4.1.1 Check Your Progress I ) Fill in the blanks: 1) Amitav Ghosh was born on______2) Amitav Ghosh’s novels are notable for______3) Amitav Ghosh’s first novel is______4) Amitav Ghosh was awarded with the Prestigious Sahitya Academi Award for his novel______5) The Circle of Reason by Amitav Ghosh is inspired by ______II) Answer the following questions with one word/phrase/sentence each. 1) Which novel by Ghosh is regarded as a mystery thriller? 2) What is the setting of the novel The Hungry Tide ? 3) What are the three novels included in Ibis Trilogy? 4) What are the major influences on Ghosh? 4.1.2 Terms to Remember:  Moby, Dick - Herman Melville’s Nineteenth century classic.

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‘The Circle of Reason, ‘a novel by Ghosh is inspired by this work.  Sundarbans – The tiny islands situated at the eastern most coast of India, in the Bay of Bengal. 4.2 The Hungry Tide : An Introduction The Hungry Tide was published in 2004. It won the 2004 Hutch Crossword Book Award for fiction. This novel reflects writer’s sociological view and his insight into colonial past. This novel covers only a few weeks in the lives of a few characters. The story proceeds in Sundarbans, the tiny islands situated at the easternmost coast of India, in the Bay of Bengal. For settlers here, life is extremely precarious. There are constant threats of attacks of tigers and tidal floods. At this place three persons meet-Piyali Roy, a young marine biologist, Kanai Dutt, a middle aged business man and illiterate fisherman Fokir. The novel deals with humanism, environmentalism and conflict. Plot The story of the novel begins when Kanai Dutt, a rich businessman and translator meets Piyali Roy, an American Scientist of Indian descent who specializes in marine mammals. Kanai Dutt comes to Sundarbans to visit his aunt and to investigate a journal written by his deceased uncle. Piyali Roy intends to investigate the rare Irrawaddy Dolphin. This dolphin is rare as it survives in both freshwater and saltwater. While speaking in train, Kanai gives Piyali an invitation to visit his aunt’s place. The two part ways when they arrive Canning, the transit railway station. Piya arrives at the Sundarbans. She has to fight against the bureaucracy to get approval to conduct her research. The local authorities give her approval on the condition that she has to take their boat and local observers. In fact, they want to keep an eye on her. While completing her research, she gets acquainted with a local fisherman, Fokir. Fokir claims to have seen the irrawaddy dolphin recently. While she is conversing with the local man, she gets distracted and falls into water. Her official observers are unconcerned but Fokir immediately dives in and rescues her. Because of this Piya dismisses the official entourage and chooses with Fokir. Piya also gets acquainted with Tutul, Fokir’s son who helps Fokir in his work. They work very well together even though they have language barriers. Fokir helps Piya and takes her to different places where she can observe the dolphins.

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Piya and Fokir visit the town of Lusibari where Kanai has been staying with his aunt. Kanai is quite busy with his Uncle’s notebook. The main focus of the notebook is the conflict between Government's force and thousands of refugees on the Sundarban’s natural preserve in 1970s. Piya is quite surprised to find out that Fokir and his family members are friends of Kanai’s family. When Piya tells about her research, Kanai and his family agree to help her by providing more boats. Kanai also insists to come along with Fokir and Piya. But actually he is jealous of Piya’s intimacy to Fokir. At first the expedition is going very well. Fokir and Piya split the group, taking their smaller boat in search of hidden canals of the jungle. When both are out, the rest of the crew gets a warning about major storm, they wait for Piya and Fokir for sometime but finally decide to head back without them. Piya and Fokir are away from all the people. As the storm is too strong they take refuge in the mangrove forest. Fokir tries his best to save both of them but unfortunately he his killed by the flying debris and Piya survives. She returns to Lusibari and conveys Fokir’s family about his fate and heroism. She raises money to support Fokir’s family. She establishes a research foundation for the study of Irrawaddy dolphin. She names this foundation after Fokir in honour of his brave help in her research. This novel deals with various themes like the might of nature, ecoculturalism, caste, roots loss of relationships etc. 4.2.1 Check Your Progress I) Fill in the blanks : 1) ______is the topic of research of Piyali. 2) ______is a local fisher man. 3) Nilima, Kanai’s aunt lives in______4) ______works as a translator in Delhi. 5) Piyali and Fokir take refuge in the ______II) Answer the following questions with one word/phrase/sentence each 1) Why does Kanai Dutt come to Sundarbans?

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2) On which condition the local authorities give Piyali Roy permission for her research? 3) What is the name of Fokir’s son? 4) What is the major theme of the novel The Hungry Tide? 5) Who is Piyali Roy? 4.2.2 Terms to Remember :  Irrawaddy Dolphin – The Dolphin survives in both fresh water and salt water.  Canning – The railway station.  Lusibari – The small island where Kanai has been staying with his aunt Nirmala.  Mangrove Forest – Jungle in the Sundarbans where Piya and Fokir take refuge. 4.3 Comprehensive Summary and Analysis Part I The Ebb-Bhata The Tide Kanai Dutt is a middle aged businessman from Delhi. Piyali Roy is a marine biologist born in India but brought up and educated in America. She has specific appearance due to her close cropped black hair, loose cotton pants and oversized white shirt. She has a proportionate and slim body structure and long face. Kanai also observes that there is no bindi on her forehead and no bangles or bracelets she wears only a silver stud in one of her ears. Form her personality it is clearly identified that she is ‘foreigner’ and ‘outsider’. Kanai is forty two years old and of medium height. His thick hair has started showing streaks of grey at the temples. His personality exhibits confidence. His sunglasses, corduroy trousers and suede shoes suggest ‘middle-aged prosperity and metropolitan affluence.’ Piya has two big backpacks which she carries herself. Piyali and Kanai, both are going to Sundarbans. The opening chapter introduces the two protagonists of the novel. It also introduces the Sundarbans – that is going to play a main role in The Hungry Tide .

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An Invitation Both Piyali and Kanai are travelling from the same train. Piyali comes and seats behind Kanai. When she is managing to take the tea inside the compartment some of the tea spills on the pages of Kanai. Piyali has already noticed Kanai on the Platform. She apologizes and offers a handful of tissues but Kanai assures her that the papers here just zerox copies. He tells that he has recognized that Piyali is an American through the way she speaks, her accent. He provides his information to her that he is a translator and interpreter and knows six languages and various dialects. Piyali is a cetologist, studying marine mammals, dolphins, whales, dugongs, etc. She wishes to do survey of the marine mammals in the Sundarbans. She also tells Kanai that though born in Calcutta, she has been raised in Seattle. Kanai informs her that he is going to Lusibari in the Sundarbans, to meet his aunt Mashima. He also invites Piyali to come there Mashima’s husband Nirmal Bose has been dead a long time and Mashima has asked Kanai to investigate papers recently discovered. Canning Kanai was unmarried but several women have come in his life. He has come to Canning after thirty years. He imagined this place to be a jungle but in reality his place was as crowded as any Kolkata bazaar. He had met his uncle when he was a college student. Kanai’s Mashima (Nilima Bose) informed him that his uncle, Nirmal Bose was constantly remembering him while he was on death bed. Then suddenly before two months she asked Kanai to come to Lusibari telling him about her husband’s writings. She wanted Kanai to come and to look at the contents of the writings. Mashima, 76 years old has come to the station to receive Kanai. He tells her about his meeting to Piyali Roy. The childless Nirmal and Nilima Bose had devoted their life in social work for the inhabitants of Sundarbans. Nirmal was a Headmaster but later got actively involved in social work after retirement. Nilima too had founded a trust called Badabon Trust. After Nirmal’s death, Nilima was deeply involved in social work for which she was widely respected.

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While describing the lives of Nirmal and Nilima Bose, the writer comments on the environmental degradation. The mighty Malta river has been reduced to a ‘ditch.’ The Launch Piya is relieved when she gets a permit for research on the marine mammals of Sundarbans from the forest department. However, the department posts a forest guard to accompany her. The guard introduces her guide Mej-da and insists her to hire his boat. Mej-da’s steamer is old and he identifies the Gangetic dolphin and Irrawaddy dolphin as birds. Lusibari Lusibari is shaped like a conch shell. It is cut off form many other islands. Lusibari, the small village is situated on the island. At the centre of the village, is a maidan and in the maidan there is a market place, a school, a Head master’s house, clusters of houses, stalls, sweetshops. Kanai has visited Lusibari in 1970. And now the village has become overcrowded. The Fall Mej-da is ignorant of marine life. He shows Piya group of crocodiles as dolphin. Piya sees a fisherman at a distance. Mej-da takes his boat closer to the fisherman. This fisherman is of the age of Piya. The guard points his gun at him and shouts “Poacher”. There is a child with the fisherman, it begins to cry. The guard snatches a thin wad of notes from the child’s hand and puts it in his pocket. Piya looking this feels sad and takes out a handful of notes and throws them at the fisherman. But in doing so she slips on her plastic chair and is thrown forward into the muddy brown water. S. Daniel After looking at the portrait of Sir Daniel Hamilton, Kanai recalls his earlier visit to his aunt’s place. Sir Daniel had explored the crab-covered shares of the tide. S.Daniel bought ten thousand acres of land of Sundarbans. Then there established the villages. People flocked to the islands from all part of Orissa, Bengal and Santhal paragana and started living there forgetting class and caste. S.Daniel wanted to build a new kind of society. But the ideal, utopian society in the dreams of Daniel on the islands of the Sundarbans was never realized. 9

Snell’s Window Piya is rescued by a fisherman from the muddy river water. The fisherman promises her to take her to Lusibari. Piya gets rid of the guard and fisherman and decides to take help of this fisherman. The Trust Lusibari the small island was thickly populated. Nilima (Mashima) lived in a small building which also served as a guest house for the Badabon Trust visitors. Kanai in the guest house has been taken care by Moyna, who is the wife of Fokir. Fokir was the son of Kusum, the girl Mashima had rescued from exploiters. Fokir A bond is developed between poor fisherman Fokir and Piya form the moment Fokir saved her from drowning. Fokir has a son Tutul. Piya offers money to Fokir but he refuses and accepts just one note. Fokir takes Piya to Lusibari and later helps her in the research. The Letter Kusum, Fokir’s mother was Kanai’s childhood friend. Kanai finds a large sealed packet addressed to him. The packet contains Kusum’s story. The Boat The chapter describes the crudely put together shabby, shanty like boat of Fokir. He shows due respect for Piya’s modesty when she gestures to her to go under the hold of his boat and change into an old, worn out sari and get out of her wet clothes. Nirmal and Nilima Nirmal and Nilima Bose first come to Lusibari in search of a ‘Safe haven’ in 1950. They had fallen in love with each other and got married. Nirmal was a leftist intellectual originally from Dhaka teaching English Literature at Ashutosh College. Nirmala was his student. They decided to settle in Lusibari. The chapter describes the island and the social work done by Nirmal and Nilima for the inhabitants. At Anchor The chapter describes Fokir’s small boat which was actually a multipurpose boat. It also describes the condition of Sundarbans boatman.

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Kusum Kanai had visited Lusibari in 1970. At that time he met Kusum who was also a child and was living under the care of womens Union. Words Piya is in Fokir’s boat. Fokir prepares food. He, at night, starts singing a song without knowing the language and words, Piya too understands the grief in it. The Glory of Bon Bibi In the Sundarbans, it is a faith that Bon Bibi rules over the jungle and takes care of people. For the people of Lusibari Bon Bibi is their deity. But Kusum tells Kanai that Bon Bibi did not come to her rescue web she invoked her as her father was being dragged into a forest by a tiger and was killed there. Bon Bibi did not save her from women traffickers. Kusum was Kanai’s only friend in Lusibari, during his ‘exile’ from school as punishment for trying outsmarting his teacher. Stirrings In the boat, at night, Piyali was shivering with cold; Fokir took her in his arms to comfort her. When her shivering stopped she sat up abruptly in embarrassment. He too sprang back. Piya knew that Fokir was married, had a child and she did not want to get into a ‘personal entanglement’ with him. In fact she was completely devoted to her ‘vocation.’ In the next morning Piya spots a group of Irrawaddy dolphin. Her task is to work out the patterns in the behaviour of this rare species. Morichjhapi Morichjhapi was an island near Lusibari. One night, a great number of Dalits suddenly appeared there over-night. They cleared the mangroves and built huts. They were mostly refugees from Bangladesh. They did not understand the local language. They settled in Morichjhapi. But government in West Bengal declared Morichjhapi a protected forest reserved and determined to evict the settlers there. Nirmal, was on the side of settlers where as Nilima on the side of local people there. Then there created a drift in their relationship. Suddenly Kusum appeared there with her son Fokir asking for medical help for settlers. Nilima expressed her inability. Kusum was massacred in the settlers. Final 11

confrontation with authorities in mid-may-1979. Nirmal then returned to Lusibari and died in July that year. An Epiphany Piya observes dolphins and decides to go ahead for her research. Moyna Moyna, Fokir’s wife is part of ‘Barefoot Nurse’ programme started by Nilima’s NGO. Moyna, married to illiterate person like Fokir wants to go to college at Canning but Fokir is content with Fishing and catching crabs. This has created trouble in their married life. Tutul was always with Fokir as Moyna was busy in the work in hospital but she wished that Tutul should go to school. Moyna was practical and worldly wise. Nirmal introduced Moyna with Kanai. He feels tender towards her and addresses her informally as ‘tumi.’ Crabs Piya studies the behaviour of dolphins till midday. She feels sorry as her research has caused inconvenience to Fokir. But Fokir has caught required number of crabs for his living. Travels Nirmal is disturbed when Kusum goes missing after the Bon Bibi performance. Nirmal is retired from the school and is invited to visit other schools. Kanai had given him the book ‘Travels’ b Bernier. Garjontala Fokir takes Piya to a settlement called Garjontala. She watches dolphins - the mother and calf and crabs too. A Disturbance Moyna, married Forkir but their married life is a bit disturbed but still she gets worried when she hears roaring of the tiger and barking of dogs. When Kanai asks her the reason of her restlessness she replies “You are not a woman. You won’t understand.”

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Listening Fokir and Piya are not able to communicate through languages but a kind of bond is developed between them and they communicate through gestures. Blown Ashore Kanai reads Nirmal’s note book. Kanai reached Morichjhapi. There he met Kusum and her son Fokir, Kusum narrated them her story. When Kusum’s mother was taken to Dhanbad, Kusum also went there Rajen helped her to find out her mother. Later Rajen married Kusum but died in an accident. A Haunt It is about Piya’s progress in the study of dolphins. Dreamers Nirmal decides to live in Morichjhapi and teach the students to read and write. He decides to teach them to dream also. Pursued The bond between Piya and Fokir is strengthened when Fokir saves Piya from the jaws of the crocodile. Their boat almost turns over and is hugely damaged. They head for Lusibari now. The Flood: Jowar Part II Beginning Again Nirmal’s Plan Nirmal is excited as he returns from Morichjhapi at the prospect of beginning afresh in life. He would teach the students how myth and Geology are intertwined. And given all the credit for this new phase is his life to Horen Naskor who has brought him to the island though by accident. Land Fall Fokir rows hard against the current and takes Piya safely to Lusibari. Then suddenly after showing her Mashima’s house, he and Tutul disappear without giving her a chance to thank and pay them for their labours. Mashima welcomes Piya to

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Lusibari and allots her a room in the guest house upstairs, where Kanai is already staying in one of the three rooms. A Feast The settlers have achieved a self-contained society at Morichijhapi an egalitarian set up “a place of true freedom for the country’s most oppressed.” Nirmal wishes to settle there and contribute his share to the development of Morichjhapi. Catching Up In this chapter Piya knows more about Moyna, Fokir's wife as well as Kanai. She also feels envy for Moyna. She knows that Kanai belongs to Modern India. Storms Nirmal tells Fokir about various storms on the island. Negotiations Piya engages Fokir to help her in her research. She also conveys her gratitude to Fokir for what he did for her and wants to give him a gift to him and his family in the form of banknotes. Moyna takes money and conveys her gratitude. Piya suggests Fokir to help her in the research on dolphin and she would pay Fokir a salary plus daily allowance and rent for boat. She also promises to give him bonus of 300 dollars. Moyna is overjoyed as it is a windfall for them. Fokir tells her that he would arrange a stream boat for her. The boat of Horen Naskor can be used. Nilima’s Reasoning Kusum requests Nilima to set up medical facilities in Morichjhapi. But Nilima turns down the request. According to Nilima the settlers in Morichjhapi were refugees and they have seized the Government land. She also strongly advises Nirmal to stay away from Morichjhapi. But Nirmal is leftist. Nilima has built the hospitals and trust and now she does not want to go against the Government. Nirmal is torn between his leftist ideas and his wife who has sacrificed so much for him. A Sunset Kanai tells Piya about Fokir and his mother Kusum. Fokir was like his mother, but only in looks Kanai asserts. Kusum was spirited, tough, and full of fun and laughter. Fokir was born in Bihar and has come to Morichjhapi with his mother.

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She has joined a group of refuges who have occupied as island nearby. The land belongs to the Government and so there is stand off and many people died. Kusum also died and Fokir was only or six. Horen Naskor took him in after his mother’s death. He has been a father to him even since. Piya tells about her mother. Piya’s mother died of cancer when she was only twelve years old. He also states that he would like to be with someone like Piya. While they are talking Fokir informs Piya regarding the availability of Horen Naskor’s steam boat. She starts preparing for expedition. Habits Nirmal accompanied Kusum and Fokir to the Garjontola island deep in the jungle in Horen Naskor’s boat in mid January 1979 for the Bon Bibi puja. Nirmal does not believe in religious rituals. Kusum informs him that the Government has been creating pressures on settlers to leave Morichjhapi. That afternoon Kusum and Horen return soon but Nirmal stays there for some time. A Pilgrimage Fascinated by Piya’s knowledge of the Irrawaddy dolphin and her research Kanai joins Piya’s expedition. He would act as a translator between her and Fokir. Destiny Nirmal and Kusum come together at Garjontola during Bon Bibi’s Puja. Nirmal is moved by the faith of the people in the tide country in the mythical Bon Bibi. The Megha Horen’s steam boat is named M.V.Megha. The boat is old and Piya is anxious whether the old boat would be able to follow dolphins. Fokir’s boat would be also accompanying the steam boat and once they reach the destination, Piya would be with Fokir in his boat to tract the dolphins. Piya agrees when they return, they find Nilima there. Kanai informs her that he would be away with Piya for a few days as her translator on Horen’s steam boat. He added that he is taking Nirmal’s notebook with him. Nilima warns Kanai and Piya of the danger lurking in the jungle. Nilima wonders whether the reason for Kanai going to dangerous terrain is Piya.

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Memory At the Bon Bibi puja Nirmal is surprised to find that the prayer is a blend of Arabic, Persian and Bangla. Although it is printed in an old tattered pamphlet, Horen the illiterate Fisherman has memorized it; it is all in his head. Intermediaries Nilima warns Piya about her nephew thinking as being ‘irresistible to other sex’ and many women have led him to believe that. She also advises Piya to be careful. Besieged The Government adopts stern measures to evict the settlers from Morichjhapi. Nirmal who joins a group of school masters on a steam boat, witnesses their plight from a distance but is greatly relieved to find that Horen, Fokir and Kusum are safe on the island. He hopes to have them back soon at Lusibari. Words Moyna is very intelligent woman. She can sense Piya’s softness towards Fokir. She can even sense the danger when Fokir and Piya are left alone during the trip. She also knows Kanai’s flirtatious nature. Crimes Kusum is deeply affected by the police siege of Morichjhapi and the plight of settlers. She has become very weak. Leaving Lusibari Piya and Kanai leave Lusibari early next morning. Moyna arrives just before they are about to leave Lusibari. She takes Tutul, her son away because she doesn’t want him to miss school. Kanai points out the vast difference between Piya and Fokir as observers an emotional bond between them. He himself starts desiring Piya. But Piya’s attitude towards him is quite cold. She even explains that Fokir and she can communicate well on the basis of the bond they share and they do not need a language to communicate with each other.

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An Interruption The steam boat stops and they are forced to spend the night in a village close by where Horen has acquaintances and relatives. Kanai has almost ended Nirmal’s note book. Alive Nilima does not like Nirmal’s going to Morichjhapi as it affects his health. She tells Nirmal that, if he wants to work for people he can do so in Lusibari. She also blames Kusum for tempting her husband there and she thinks that Kusum can also come to Lusibari to work for people and so the ugly rumours about Nirmal and Kusum will come to an end. Nirmal comes to know that Morichjhapi is encircled on all side by Police and it is almost impossible to get out of the island as Police has sunk all the settler’s boats. Nirmal is anxious to get Kusum and Fokir safely out of Morichjhapi. Horen and Nirmal hid their boat among the mangroves and reach Kusum’s dwelling. She is reluctant to leave but allows Forkir to leave till the trouble is over. Nirmal also decides to stay back. Kanai reads the last words of Nirmal and asks Horen what has happened later. Horen takes away Fokir from Morichjhapi. Outsiders burnt the settlers’ huts, boats and destroyed their fields. Women are taken away from them and Kusum was one of them. Nirmal was put on a bus with other refugees to send back to their camp in Madhya Pradesh. But perhaps they must have left him off because he found his way back to Canning. A Post Office on Sunday Kanai tells Piya about Nirmal his leftist thoughts, his work for settlers. According to him Nirmal was also a historical materialist. A Killing Around the midnight Kanai, Piya and Horen come to know from the pug marks of a tiger that beast is drawn towards the small village and people are following and shouting. The tiger is trapped inside the hut. Piya wants to save the tiger from the people. Hers pleas remain unheard. She wants to take help of Fokir but finds that Forkir is leading people in hunt. The hut has been set on fire and the tiger is killed by people. Her efforts to save the animal fail. No one is aware of the need to

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preserve our wild life. The scenario is man versus animal and survival of the fittest in the Sundarbans. Interrogations They leave the village in morning and return to their boat. Kanai and Piya see a boat with Khaki uniformed forest guards. They were going to the village. The guards have been informed of the presence of foreigner woman in the village. The guards to investigate this, interrogates Fokir but Kanai bribes them and releases Fokir from their clutches. Mr. Sloane This chapter discusses how Piya becomes interested in studying the dolphins. Fokir has learnt about animals from his mother who has wanted to settle in Garjontala after the Morichjhapi incident, which never comes to be. So Fokir often dreams of her when he comes there and in the process, has become friendly with dolphins. Kratie Asked about her personal life Piya tells Kanai that she had been in a serious relationship with a young man Rath who was working as a local representative of Fisheries Department while she was in Kratie in eastern Cambodia. But the relationship failed and she decided to be on her own. Kanai wishes to tell her his feeling but is unable to do so. Signs Kanai is perhaps as “good at heart” as Fokir expects him to be in order to receive Bon Bibi’s blessings. He sinks deeper and deeper into the marsh and hallucinates that he has seen a tiger. He is rescued by Piya, Fokir and Horen. Lights In the evening, Piya invites Kanai to have a look at the glow-worms flashing there lights in rhythm around the mangroves. Kanai informs Piya that he is going the next day to Lusibari and then to Delhi. Kanai plans to leave at day break the next day with Horen while Piya would be away with Fokir. They both admit that they have enjoyed each other’s company. Kanai hopes that he will soon see Piya in New Delhi. Piya firmly tells Kanai that she is not the woman he is looking for.

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A Search Kanai gives a large manila envelope to Piya as a parting gift. Kanai heads for Lusibari and Piya joins Fokir in his boat. Causalities Cyclone has impended and Piya and Fokir haven’t yet reached back to their make shift boat. A Gift Piya and Fokir are away from the boat and Fokir looks for a place to anchor his boat. She reads the letter written by Kanai who wishes that she should spend a brief period of togetherness with Fokir. Fresh Water and Salt This chapter reveals how a simple woman like Kusum was wooed and courted by two older men- Nirmal and Horen. Nirmal was educated and Horen was a simple boatman. Finally, Horen’s silent love won. It is in the same manner the uneducated, poor fisherman like Fokir and educated and sophisticated Kannai's love for Piya. It is Fokir’s love for Piya that, Horen hopes would bring back the boat safe from the cyclone. Horizons Next morning Piya senses the upcoming storm. She wakes up Fokir and asks him to get back to the Megha. Horen and Kanai can spot for them as there is no shelter nearby and Horen thinks about the safety of his grandson who is on the Megha. So he has no option but to leave. He hopes that Fokir would definitely save himself and Piya. Losses Fokir and Piya are trapped in the storm but Kanai is safely dropped at Lusibari by Horen. Horen asks Kanai to inform Moyna about Fokir. Getting Ashore Piya and Fokir are stranded in the jungle as the storm rages. Kanai comes to the hospital. Moyna is worried about Fokir and Piya’s safety. Kanai assures her that Fokir knows how to steer his boat in the storm.

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The Wave The storm is increasing and there is flood. People are taking shelter in Lusibari hospital. Fokir lays down his life to save Piya in the storm. The Day After The next day Horen comes with his boat. In Fokir’s boat Piya is there only as Fokir had died. They bring Fokir’s dead body back for cremation. Moyna is shattered at the loss of her daring husband. Piya ponders the unspoken bond she shared with this poor, unlettered fisherman who had lost his life shielding her from the ravages of the storm. Home: An Epilogue After Fokir’s death Piya forms a strange friendship with Moyna. Piya raises money to help Moyna and Tutul as well as obtains funds for her project on the Irrawaddy dolphin from several environmental and conservation groups in Kolkatta. She decides to continue her research from Lusibari. Kanai has agreed to be with her hena the project is rightly named after Fokir. 4.3.1 Check Your Progress I) Fill in the blanks: 1) Kanai Dutt knows ______languages. 2) Piyali has been raised in______3) Nilima Bose, Kanai’s aunt is known as ______4) Nirmal and Nilima came to Lusibari______5) ______ruled the jungles of the country of eighteen tides. II) Answer the following questions with one word/phrase/sentence each. 1) Who is Mej-da? 2) Who has discovered the islands of Sundarbans? 3) Who was Fokir’s mother? 4) Who was the father of the twins Bon Bibi and Shah Jongoli?

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5) What does Kanai give Piya as a parting gift? 4.3.2 Terms to Remember  Cetologist – One who studies marine mammals.  Badabon Trust – A trust founded by Nirmala Bose.  Sir Daniel Hamilton – a Scotsman who had explored the tide.  Bon Bibi – Deity of the people of Lusibari.  Morichjhapi – An Island near Lusibari.  M.V.Megha – Horen Naksor’s Steam boat.  Kratie – A place in Eastern Cambodia. 4.4 Major and Minor Characters Piyali Roy The Hungry Tide revolves around the character Piyali Roy (Piya), an Indian American cetologist whose focus of research is the study of fresh water dolphins. She starts working in the Sundarbans with Kanai Dutt, a translator and expert in six languages and Fokir, an illiterate fisherman. Kanai is visiting his aunt Nilima (Mashima) a social worker who has set up an NGO named Badabon Trust and runs a hospital in Lusibari one of the islands in the Sundarbans. Kanai wants to read the diary written by his late uncle Nirmal an idealistic Marxist intellectual. Piya through her relationship with Kanai and Fokir comes to know the several issues of Sundarbans. These issues are the problems of settlers in Sundarbans, wild life conservation, urban-rural conflicts, and caste and class politics in post colonial India etc. Piya grew up in Seattle and never learned Bengali, though she was born in Calcutta to Bengali parents. She doesn’t always need spoken language to communicate. When she meets Fokir she believes that they are able to communicate with each other. At the beginning of the novel Piya believes in the power and goodness of conservation efforts. As the novel progresses, Piya is forced to recognize that conservation isn’t always a force for good- it often happens at the expense of poor people like Fokir. Though Piya and Fokir are clearly attracted to each other and develop a quiet romance through out the novel, they never act on their feelings for

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each other. About six weeks after the cyclone, when Piya returns to Lusibari, she suggests that she would like to name her on going project after Fokir. She also wants to work with local fishermen to carry out her project and share funding with the Badabon Trust, which suggests that she learned that conservation efforts are most effective when implemented in a way that actually helps locals. Kusum Kanai sees Kusum at Lusibari during his first visit to his aunt Nilima. She is an odd looking teenager with short hair cut. She is dressed in the ‘frilly’ frock of a child instead of a woman’s saree. Horen the fisherman has brought her there in order to save her from the clutches of a local land owner Dilip Choudhary, who has already sold her widowed mother into prostitution at Dhanbad. Kanai befriends Kusum. We next meet Kusum at the railway platform at Dhanbad. She falls in love with a lame vendor Rajen and marries him with her mother’s permission and blessings. Rajen finds out her mother and reunites them. The Mother dies soon after. Kusum has a son Fokir. After Rajen’s death she joins the group of refugees from Dandakaranya Camp to the uninhabited island of Morichjhapi in the Sundarbans. Kusum soon becomes a part of settlement at Morichjhapi. Horen Naskor and Nirmal are the regular visitors to Morichjhapi. Both visit Kusum till she loses her life in the people’s resistance to the Government’s violent use of force to evict them from Morichjhapi. After her death Horen brings up Fokir as his own son. Horen admits that he had been secretly and silently in love with Kusum right from the moment he had brought her to Lusibari as teenager. He was then a married man and was a father of three children. He was so much in love with her that he was ready to leave his wife for her but Kusum denied. He saved Kusum from Dililp Choudhari’s men. Eight years later Kusum returned to Morichjhapi. Horen goes to Morichjhapi to catch a glimpse of her. Nirmal too, was in love with Kusum. But Nirmal was articulate and Horen was a silent lover. Horen’s love for Kusum finds fulfillment. Nilima/Mashima Nilima comes form a well-to-do family in Kolkata. As a frail, young, asthmatic, she falls in love with her teacher, a Marxist idealist Nirmal and marries him in the

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face of stiff opposition. After Nirmal is involved in his political activities, they go to Lusibari. Nirmal is involved in teaching. Nilima gets together the women of the island and forms a womens union through which she tries to give some work for women who will make economically independent and active. Later this body is transformed into Badabon Trust, an NGO. Nilima is called Mashima (mother’s sister) by the grateful islanders. She also sets up a hospital in Lusibari for the inhabitants. Kanai Dutt is Nirmal’s nephew. Both Nirmal and Nilima love Kanai very much. Nirmal is active in struggle of the settlers in the island whereas Nilima against it. Nirmal’s frequent visits to Morichjhapi creates suspect in Nilima’s mind. She suspects that Nirmal is emotionally involved in Kusum. Later it was observed that Nilima’s suspect was right. After Fokir’s death Piya decides to stay in Lusibari and pursue the project named after Fokir with the help of 76 year old Nilima and Nilima gives her consent as she was deeply committed to the welfare work in Lusibari. Fokir Fokir is a poor fisherman whom Piya meets when she is in the cane of forest guard and Media. Fokir saves her when she falls into the water. Piya completely trusts on him. Fokir doesn’t speak English nor understands English and Piya doesn’t understand Bengali but still they have cultivated a strong emotional bond. He takes care of Piya, makes accommodations for her privacy, offers her deal about river dolphins and is eager to help her in her studies. Fokir’s wife Moyna does not like his profession and she thinks that there is much danger and no future in this profession. She wants to provide education to Tutul, their son. Fokir’s mother thinks that Fokir had the river in his blood. During the cyclone, Forkir and Piya aren’t able to make it back to the Megha in time and so many rides out the cyclone on Garjontola. Fokir ties them to a tree to keep them from blowing away. After the storm ends, Fokir dies when a flying object hits him. Piya decides to name her project after him.  Piyali Roy – a cetologist who comes to the Sundarbans to conduct a survey of the river dolphins.  Kanai Dutt – a wealthy, middle aged translator who works in New Delhi. He has come to Sundarbans for the second time to read the notebook of Nirmal.

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 Nirmal Bose – a Marxist intellectual and a promising writer. He teaches in Lusibari.  Nilima Bose – Nilima is Nirmal’s wife and is known as Mashima in Lusibari.  Fokir – Fokir is a poor fisherman whom Piya meets. He helps her in her research on dolphins. Fokir dies in facing the storm.  Kusum – Comes to Sundarbans along with the refugees. Both Horen and Nirmal were in love with her. She supports the settlement project on Morichjhapi.  Horen Naskor – He is a fisherman. He was in love with Kusum though he was a married man. He looks after Fokir after Kusum’s death.  Moyna – She is Forkir’s wife and a trainee nurse at the Lusibari hospital.  Tutul – Fokir and Moyna’s five year old son.  Nogen – Horen’s 14 year old grandson.  Rath – He was a Cambodian in the Cambodian forest service. Piya had a romantic relationship with him but he married another woman.  Rajen – Kusum’s husband.  Dilip Choudhary – a wealthy man in the Sundarbans who preyed on vulnerable woman. 4.4.2 Check Your Progress I) Fill in the blanks: 1) For Fokir’s dolphins are ______2) ______is Forkir’s wife. 3) ______looks after Fokir after Kusum’s death. 4) ______is Horen’s fourteen years grandson. 5) Nirmal was a ______intellectual. II) Answer the following questions with one word/phrase/sentence each. 1) Who is Dilip Choudhary? 2) Who is Kusum’s husband? 24

3) Who saved Kusum form Dilip Choudhary? 4) Where does Kusum come after Rajen’s death? 4.5 Myth and Ecological concerns in The Hungry Tide : Mythological stories play an important role in our lives. They are related to birth and death, destiny; ideas of moralities in Indian Epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata have numeral mythical stories that have universal appeal. Certain myths are part of folk tales. The myth of Bon-Bibi is one them. The Myth of Bon Bibi has its significance in the life of the people of the Sundarbans. The myth of Bon Bibi symbioses the Hindu-Muslim syncretism. Bon Bibi is the tiger-goddess that protects fishermen in the mangrove forest against storms, cyclones and wild life. The villagers believe that Bon Bibi rules over the jungle. Nirmal, the rationalist Marxist dismisses it as a figment of the native’s fertile imagination where as young Kanai is mesmerized by the performance of ‘The Glory of Bon Bibi’ by the local inhabitants. The story of the tiger-goddess begins in Medina, one of the holiest places in Islam. A childless devout Muslim, Ibrahim is blessed with the twins through the intervention of the archangel Gabriel. They are Bob Bibi and Shah Jongoli. When the twins come of the age, they are to travel from Arabia to “the country of the eighteen tides” – atthero bhatir desh . Thus charged, Bon Bibi and Shan Jongoli set off for the mangrove forests of Bengal, “dressed in the simple robes of Sufi medicants.” The jungles of “the country of eighteen tides’ are currently the realm of a powerful demon king, Dokkhin Rai, who hold sway over every being that leaves there. He hates mankind and has an insatiable craving for human flesh. One day Dokkhin Rai hears strange new voices in the jungle calling out the azan , the Muslim call to prayer and finds out that Bon Bibi and Shah Jongoli have entered his realm. He attacks but is defeated in battle. Merciful Bob Bibi divides the realm – on half of the tide country would remain a wilderness to be ruled over by the Dokkhin Rai and his demon hoards. The other half she claims for herself. Under her rule this once forested domain is soon made safe for human settlement. Thus order is brought to the land of eighteen tides with its two halves, the wild and the sown, “being held in careful balance.” All is well until human greed intrudes to upset this order.

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One the edges of the tide country, lives Dhona, a rich man who has put together a fleet of seven ships in the hope of making a fortune in the jungle. Dhona’s fleet is about to set sail when it is discovered that the crew is short of just one man. The only person at hand is an unfortunate young man Dukhey. Dukhey’s mother is unwilling of Dukhey’s joining the fleet and she advises him to invoke Bon Bibi whenever he finds himself in trouble and the tiger-goddess will certainly help him. As soon as Dhona’s fleet enters Dokkhin Rai’s territory, strange things begin to happen. Dokkhin Rai comes in his dream and promises to load his fleet of ship with as much honey and wax as they can carry in exchange of human flesh. Dhona falls prey to temptation and leaves Dukhey behind. Dukhey call out to Bon-Bibi, who immediately appears with Shah Jongoli. Together they teach the demon a lesson and nurse Dukhey back to health and transport him back to his mother. The poor fishermen sing the songs and prayers in which they prey to Bon-Bibi for their safety and well-being. People shed tears in gratitude while watching the performance of ‘The Glory of Bon-Bibi’ and thank for protecting them. Kusum while watching the performance starts uncontrollably crying as she laments that Bon-Bibi did not come to her aid when her father, a poor fisherman was mauled and carried into a mangrove forest by a tiger. But Horen consoles her that her father was a good and holy man and so she chooses to call him first near him. Later on Kusum’s son Fokir too grows up to believe in Bon Bibi. So the people have unquestioning belief in myth. Fokir know about the place through mythological oral narratives he had learnt form Kusum, his mother and people. The Bon Bibi myth connects the people with nature. People who are living in the company of nature have to face different natural calamities like cyclone, storm and attacks of tigers and wild animals. They respect nature and they have a fear for nature and nature represents super power. Their fear and respect for Bon Bibi saves them from tigers, they believe. They surrender Nature as it is beyond human control. Nilima, a well-educated and city bred woman too believes in such myths. No person will enter into the forest without invoking the protection of Bon-Bibi. Nirmal, Nilima, Kanai and Piyali are outsiders and they come into contact with locals, listen and observe their performances and religions rituals of the Sundarbans and do not want to disturb the lives of people shaped by mythic ideas.

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‘The Hungry Tide ’ represents richness of oral tradition derived from mythological tales. The knowledge provided through these myths is sometimes superior to conventional knowledge. These people are quite close to nature and there is a deep sense of attachment between them and nature, Where as for Piya the dolphins are the subjects of her research, for Fokir they are Bon Bibi’s messengers. For the inhabitants of the islands, nature is a bountiful mother as well as a hostile force. The storms and the tigers are the forms in which nature expresses its hostility to human beings. Piya is aware to the inhabitants avenging the cruelty of these forces. Her strong reaction to the incident when a trapped tiger is being tortured by people from an island who had earlier lost many men and live stock to the beast shows Piya, the environmentalist at her forceful best. But the inhabitants prevail. The gentler aspects of nature are represented by the river dolphins which Kusum names for her son as ‘God messengers.’ Even the slightest change in river waters or big threats like cyclones can be predicted with a charge in the dolphins’ behaviour and appearance in and out of water. Mythology is beautifully linked with nature and science. 4.6 Human Space, Landscape and Nature Versus Man in The Hungry Tide The Hungry Tide is set in the Sundarbans which is covered by mangrove forests. The narrator's is a long river trip in search of Irrawaddy dolphin. But eventually it becomes a combination of travel, anthropology, ethnography migration, landscape and environmentalism. Ghosh here intertwines human space and landscape. Nature Versus Man The tide or the tidal land has the power to charge the course of rivers and reshape lands. Ghosh discusses the conflict between the natural world and man made world. Sundarbans, one third of which is in India and two thirds in Bangladesh is home to many endangered species like Royal Bengal Tiger and Irrawaddy dolphins. There is conflict between the human and the non-human for space. The relation between the human settlers and the predators is exquisitely expressed in the myth of Bon-Bibi the tiger goddess. And the role of the Government in protecting the environment is mocked in the episode of Piya’s encounter with the forest guard.

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There are 3 characters Piya, Kanai and Fokir. Piya is a young ecologist who comes from Seattle, United States for her research over breed of fresh water dolphin. Kanai is middle aged Linguist who runs a translation bureau in Delhi. And Fokir is a poor fisherman. The focus of the novel is Nirmal’s notebook. In the notebook there are several incidents depicted regarding the refugees who have come to Morichjhapi with the intention of settling there. They cleared the land making it fit for agriculture. Nirmal, gets involved with the refugees and becomes the witness of the eviction of these settlers through a “brutal display of state power” Nirmal, is found wandering in the port later of town of canning never recovering from the trauma of the event. The story of Morichjhapi plays very important role in the novel. The people who came to settle in Morichjhapi were the refugees from East Pakistan (Now Bangladesh) who had lost their homeland. These people were great in numbers and Indian Government agreed to settle them Dandakaranya, which was strange place to them. So these people headed towards Sundarbans in the hope of setting there. But the Government of India, along with the Government of West Bengal was not ready to allow them to settle in the island of Morichjhapi. These people, Government started here involving in illegal activities like killing trees and destroying forest resources. They were distributing the land among themselves with some authorization from the Government officials to enter into the island and they were creating their own administrative system. The State Government could not allow this and acted to evict the settlers. The main reason behind this was to restore ecological balance. The killing of tiger in a village focuses the man versus nature conflict. The myth of Bon Bibi represents the relationship between the human and the predators. The myth explains that the people do not want to harm nature or animals but what they want is to survive among those hostilities. The Government forcefully removed refugees from Morichjhapi to restore ecological balance. The Government wanted to clear mangroves and plant coconut and casuarinas trees in Morichjhapi whereas the mangrove forest has its own ecological value and their replacement by coconut and casuarinas trees would cause more harm to the flora and Fauna of the region. The Government servants like the guard are not at all aware of the safety of nature but the local habitants like Fokir are real caretakers. It is the new technology like nylon nets, motor launches that harm sea creatures and not poor people. 28

In The Hungry Tide we find the people of Sundarbans tidal lands struggling very hard for their existence against a number of natural forces, ferocious animals like tigers and crocodiles and natural calamities like cyclone. Everything is very powerfully presented by Amitav Ghosh. 4.7 Answers for Check Your Progress 4.1 I 1) 11 th July 1956 2) narrative technique 3) The Circle of Reason 4) The Shadow Lines 5) Moby Dick II 1) The Calcutta Chromosome. 2) Sundarbans 3) Sea of Poppies, River of Smoke and The Glass Palace 4) Independence, partition and political and historical 5) The Circle of Reason, The Shadow Lines, The Calcutta Chromosome, The Glass Palace, The Hungry Tide, The Ibis Trilogy, etc. 4.2 I 1) Irrawaddy Dolphins 2) Fokir 3) Lusibari 4) Kanai Dutt 5) Mangrove forest II 1) Kanai Dutt comes to Sundarbans to visit his aunt to investigate a journal written by his deceased uncle. 2) The local authorities at Sundarban gives her approval on the condition that she has to take their boat and local observers. 3) Tutul. 4) Myth and ecological concerns/Ecoculturalism is the main theme of the novel. 5) Piyali Roy is an American scientist of Indian descent specializing in marine mammals. 4.3.3 I 1) Six 2) Seattle 3) Mashima 4) 1950 5) Dokkhin Rai II i) Mejda is the guide given to Piyali by the Forest Department ii) S.Daniel has discovered the islands of Sundarbans. iii) Kusum

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iv) Ibrahim – the Sufi fakir v) A large Manila envelope 4.8 Exercises Questions for long answers 1) Comment on the role played by Piyali Roy in The Hungry Tide . 2) Discuss Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide as a post-colonial novel. 3) In The Hungry Tide Amitav Ghosh portrays the different attitudes of the inhabitants of Sundarbans. 4) Write a critical note on the structure and plot construction of The Hungry Tide . 5) Describe the myth of Bon Bibi and its significance in the life of the people of the Sundarbans. Short Notes 1) Nirmals’s note book 2) The character of Kusum 3) The bond between Piyali and Fokir 4) Moyna 5) The incident of tiger hunt 4.9 Reference for further study Banerjee Amrita: ‘Hostile Spaces Gendered Responses- A Reading of The Hungry Tide .’ Dewani Richa: Amitav Ghosh: A Biographical Study. Pal, Dipanwita: Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide. Tiwari Shubha: Amitav Ghosh: A Critical Study. JJJ

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