sea of poppies by amitav ghosh
i finished this book a few days ago and immediately wished to write a review. i have been struggling as to where to begin, and hence this delay.
so i will start at the very end. and perhaps work backwards.
i loved this book. i will give it a 8.t out 10
there are so many threads in this exciting novel that i have so far failed to identify the hero and heroine. too many of them.
what attracted me to this book from the reviews was two things: it dealt with the emigration of indians in the 19th century to mauritius. second, the enforced growing of opium in central india by east india company.
i have been fortunate enough to meet the descendants of indian emigrants (indentured, forced or otherwise) from such disparate places as trinidad, guyana, surinam, fiji, mauritius, south africa, east africa, malaysia, singapore and (ofcourse) singapore.
many of them are several generations removed from india. many still, only resemble us in physical features, but inwards, as alien as any european or chinese. i figure, in about 100 years my own descendents will resemble such.
all of these descendents have a fascination for india, to different levels. till they open their mouth, they are de facto identified as indians. only after they identify themselves, we get to know the real person behind the brown skin.
i have not yet read any novel of the migration process. what initiated it. how it went.
amitav's novel deals with one such group of people who are bundled together in an ex africa trade slave ship, the ibis. they are gathered from bihar and calcutta and each has his/her own unique set of circumstances which brings them to ibis.
along with this, is the background of the forced cultivation of opium, in central india by the east india company. land that was hitherto self sufficient to feed was now converted to cultivating the drug for export to china.
this had a disastrous effect on the peasants, for the giddying prices fetched for opium went to the hands of the zamindars and the company. not much trickled to those who grew it.
one way to get out of the poverty, was to remove those additional mouths to feed, by indenturing them to agents who were looking for labour in far off lands.
these lands used to have human capital from africa, and since the gradual abolition of slavery, were looking for alternates. hence, the new feed of indentured labourers from central india.
incidentally, many a men/women from tamil nadu/andhra too were part of this semi forced emigration, and not much has been narrated about them either.
sea of poppies is a snapshot of some incidents in 1838 in british ruled india. there are ofcourse villains and kind hearts. whites and browns, are both. which humanizes this book. no one race has the monopoly to cruelty. we know that.
the central character in this book, who is there from the start is a mulatto, who is almost passed for white. he has an interestng story and it is a believable tale as to how he rises in ranks in the old slave ship during its initial journey under a new owner, from baltimore to calcutta.
then there are two female interests... hah! but i am getting too detailed here. the book is a set of substories of interwoven novels, and how they are all weaved together to form the tapestry that is the sea of poppies.
it is my intention to only throw some morcels of flavour of the book here. and leave it to you to enjoy the surprises. there are umpteen reviews of this book if you google.
the language is very easy reading and superbly intermingled with bengali/hindi words. i do not know either language, but i could decipher their meaning from the context. and really it does not matter to understand every word. there are no translations.
there is a personal glossary at the back, but not of the kind that we are used to.
i have also been reading a few reviews. in foreign magazines. where the reviewers being well known indians, they appear to bring in a dose of jingoism, which i abhor. the western reviewers, on the whole, while flattering, have maintained a level headed overview. just my impression, that's all.
there is also an element of mysticism of the unknown interwoven in this book. which i am yet to understand.
there are no single good or bad race. it is the reactions of people forced to act by the tides of time against the river of life. this book is an awesome attempt to photograph one such series of events and present it to us as a scrumptuous (non) vegetarian thali !!!
the book ends rather abruptly. after all, it is but one of three parts. i cannot wait for the other two.
amitav is painting a very complex picture in a large canvas. so far what he has completed, gives me excitement and promises that the next stage, when unveiled, if it is as good as this first part, it is bound to rank among the greatest of historical yarns, spun for the infinite pleasure for generations to come.
i finished this book a few days ago and immediately wished to write a review. i have been struggling as to where to begin, and hence this delay.
so i will start at the very end. and perhaps work backwards.
i loved this book. i will give it a 8.t out 10
there are so many threads in this exciting novel that i have so far failed to identify the hero and heroine. too many of them.
what attracted me to this book from the reviews was two things: it dealt with the emigration of indians in the 19th century to mauritius. second, the enforced growing of opium in central india by east india company.
i have been fortunate enough to meet the descendants of indian emigrants (indentured, forced or otherwise) from such disparate places as trinidad, guyana, surinam, fiji, mauritius, south africa, east africa, malaysia, singapore and (ofcourse) singapore.
many of them are several generations removed from india. many still, only resemble us in physical features, but inwards, as alien as any european or chinese. i figure, in about 100 years my own descendents will resemble such.
all of these descendents have a fascination for india, to different levels. till they open their mouth, they are de facto identified as indians. only after they identify themselves, we get to know the real person behind the brown skin.
i have not yet read any novel of the migration process. what initiated it. how it went.
amitav's novel deals with one such group of people who are bundled together in an ex africa trade slave ship, the ibis. they are gathered from bihar and calcutta and each has his/her own unique set of circumstances which brings them to ibis.
along with this, is the background of the forced cultivation of opium, in central india by the east india company. land that was hitherto self sufficient to feed was now converted to cultivating the drug for export to china.
this had a disastrous effect on the peasants, for the giddying prices fetched for opium went to the hands of the zamindars and the company. not much trickled to those who grew it.
one way to get out of the poverty, was to remove those additional mouths to feed, by indenturing them to agents who were looking for labour in far off lands.
these lands used to have human capital from africa, and since the gradual abolition of slavery, were looking for alternates. hence, the new feed of indentured labourers from central india.
incidentally, many a men/women from tamil nadu/andhra too were part of this semi forced emigration, and not much has been narrated about them either.
sea of poppies is a snapshot of some incidents in 1838 in british ruled india. there are ofcourse villains and kind hearts. whites and browns, are both. which humanizes this book. no one race has the monopoly to cruelty. we know that.
the central character in this book, who is there from the start is a mulatto, who is almost passed for white. he has an interestng story and it is a believable tale as to how he rises in ranks in the old slave ship during its initial journey under a new owner, from baltimore to calcutta.
then there are two female interests... hah! but i am getting too detailed here. the book is a set of substories of interwoven novels, and how they are all weaved together to form the tapestry that is the sea of poppies.
it is my intention to only throw some morcels of flavour of the book here. and leave it to you to enjoy the surprises. there are umpteen reviews of this book if you google.
the language is very easy reading and superbly intermingled with bengali/hindi words. i do not know either language, but i could decipher their meaning from the context. and really it does not matter to understand every word. there are no translations.
there is a personal glossary at the back, but not of the kind that we are used to.
i have also been reading a few reviews. in foreign magazines. where the reviewers being well known indians, they appear to bring in a dose of jingoism, which i abhor. the western reviewers, on the whole, while flattering, have maintained a level headed overview. just my impression, that's all.
there is also an element of mysticism of the unknown interwoven in this book. which i am yet to understand.
there are no single good or bad race. it is the reactions of people forced to act by the tides of time against the river of life. this book is an awesome attempt to photograph one such series of events and present it to us as a scrumptuous (non) vegetarian thali !!!
the book ends rather abruptly. after all, it is but one of three parts. i cannot wait for the other two.
amitav is painting a very complex picture in a large canvas. so far what he has completed, gives me excitement and promises that the next stage, when unveiled, if it is as good as this first part, it is bound to rank among the greatest of historical yarns, spun for the infinite pleasure for generations to come.
