 Ghosh`s The Hungry Tide is unambiguously located in India, or more precisely and like several of his previous works, in his home state of Bengal. Yet in spite of the impressive local colour the Sundarbans are painted in with their intricate waterways and its tides, its myriad islands and sandbanks that are forever shifting, its vegetation and animal world, its storms and, last but not least, its dense population of fishermen and peasants, the author`s principal motif, I believe, lies elsewhere. The story of a few days in the lives of the young Indian cetologist Piyali Roy having arrived to observe a subspecies of dolphin, of the Delhi-based translator Kanai and his aunt Mashima, and finally, of the fisherman Fokir and his family, revolves around an issue of global dimension. What should have precedence in the modern world, the subtext asks: the care for survival of an ecologically balanced biotope like the Sundarbans or settling impoverished and homeless refugees in their fertile surroundings to ensure their survival? It is a question the novel does not answer, or rather, the answer given is twofold. Years ago the Bengal government had stepped in and forcibly removed the settlers from the land they had illegally taken possession of. Now, the task lies with people like Piyali, Kanai and Mashima who devote their lives to create bearable living conditions for the original people of the Sundarbans.
The plot structure reveals itself as multiple-layered depicting the various characters` relationships as they develop. Most impressive is the Piyali-Fokir relationship embedded in the natural world of water and islands that is counterpoised by local myths and legends. Both motifs are bundled together in a text that forms part of, as much as it contributes to issues of eco-literature, a new kind of writing that has evolved in recent years and has been met with increased attention by writers and readers. The Hungry Tide thus points towards a new direction in Indian English fiction which in the past has paid but scant attention to nature and instead has privileged topics relevant to the urbanized middle-class of the big cities.
|
