The Hungry Tide

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also reveals how conscious he was of the space he was working with in the novel: “when I began to deal with the Sundarbans, just discovering the layer upon layer upon layer, the dense layering of this history, [is what] makes this place possible, that gives it a location, [and] makes it continuously surprising” (Ghosh, “Interview” 105). The “intense layering” is what contributes to his two-tiered aesthetic. Subaltern Geoaesthetics

call this a “subaltern geoaesthetic” because it is founded on some of the elements of the subaltern studies historiographic project but, influenced by the terrain, is also a critique of this project. 1 In this novel, Ghosh repeats elements of this historiographic mode in using a subaltern uprising and subaltern characters, but instead of only demonstrating failure, he also presents the world these people inhabit as transforming and ennobling, even as the easy acceptance of the mysterious and the mystical evokes respect for the other and creates an intuitive understanding of the limits and sanctity of spaces. And what's with all the exposition? Ghosh here uses Bengali words, probably hoping they would add to the authenticity. Dude, tiger prawn is known as bagda chingri, not badga. No one speaks the way in Bengali in the way his characters do. Ghosh has, of course, done extensive research on cetology and the geography of Sundarbans (Anyone like me who has been there can tell you that), but sadly, not a single person speaks like that. I can not speak about the elite (the targeted audience), but at least not one person from the social strata that this novel concerns.The novel commences with Piya Roy‘s arrival in the Sundarbans to study the rare and elusive Irrawaddy dolphins. As an American scientist of Indian origin, she is an outsider in the region, setting foot on its shores with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. As she embarks on her academic pursuit, she encounters Kanai Dutt, a successful translator who has come to the Sundarbans to settle a family estate. Their lives intersect during a boat journey, and the novel weaves their paths together, entangled in the mystical waters of the Sundarbans. Piyali Roy, also called Piya, starts living as a tenant in Kanai Dutt’s uncle’s house. Kanai’s aunty develops a liking for Piya (as a daughter). Barras, Arnaud. “The Aesthetics of the Tide: The Ecosystem as Matrix for Transculturation in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” Transculturation and Aesthetics: Ambivalence, Power, and Literature. Ed. Joel Kuortti . Amsterdam: Rodopi. 2015. 171-86. Another reason for concern is the expanding tourism industry in India. Sahara India Parivar's mega tourism project proposes to take over large areas of the Sundarbans to construct floatels, restaurants, shops, business centres, cinemas, and theatres which would disturb the fragile ecosystem and further threaten the already endangered biodiversity of the region. Ghosh vehemently oppose this gigantic hotel project in the name of conservation.

As Piya and Kanai explore the Sundarbans, they encounter the third central character, Fokir, a simple yet enigmatic fisherman with an intimate understanding of the region’s rhythms. Fokir’s connection to the land and the sea is profound, as he effortlessly navigates the treacherous terrain, guided by his intuition and deep respect for nature. Piya, as she keeps exploring the river’s length and breadth with Fokir in search of the Irrawaddy dolphins, develops an affection for him. Kanai, on the other hand, wants to make Piya aware of his feelings but cannot confront her. So, there is an implicit love triangle in play throughout the novel.Quadri Ismail takes the view that this conclusion reinforces the Buddhist Sinhala nationalism that (...) Cf. an almost identical reference to visiting journalists [27] and a similar reference to internati (...) The true tragedy of routinely spent life is that its wastefulness does not become apparent till it is too late.”

The other sad thing about the novel is its degeneration into chapters containing one-to-one conversations. There are just two many of these chapters. Each character gets to talk to the other. Sometimes they narrate stories of the kind I have mentioned before. At other times, they bore even more. One gets the irritating feeling that this could have been a super-taut novella and that it would have done better then. At other times, you find yourself bemoaning the superficiality it loads the characters with...suddenly the characters lose their inner lives and are just talking. Talking , talking, and talking.

FROM REVERENCE TO DESTRUCTION: AN ECO-CRITICAL APPROACH TO AMITAV GHOSH'S 'THE HUNGRY TIDE'

Although the barbaric action of the government forces at Morichjhapi was indefensible, Ghosh makes it clear that the issue involved was not a simple one. To Piya, for example, the claims of the environment should come before the needs of people. She makes her position clear when she comes upon villagers torturing a man-eating tiger they have captured. Realizing that they intend to burn it alive, Piya attempts to intervene, and Fokir has to drag her away, explaining that after all, it had killed human beings. His mother, Kusum, would have seconded his comments, for as a nurse trainee, she had been taught that human life, not nature, is of paramount importance. The numerous Rilke intertexts in Nirmal’s notebook have the effect of broadening the dispossession (...)

B urton , Antoinette. ‘Archive of Bones: Anil’s Ghost and the Ends of History’, Journal of Commonwealth Literature , 38, 1 (2003), 39-56.

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F oucault , Michel. ‘Space, Knowledge, and Power’, Foucault interviewed by Paul Rabinow, trans. Christian Hubert, The Foucault Reader , ed. Paul Rabinow, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991. Antoinette Burton takes this sentence from the novel as the epigraph for her article ‘Archive of Bones: Anil’s Ghost and the Ends of History’, to which I am indebted for aspects of my discussion of competing epistemologies in Anil’s Ghost . Anand, Divya. “Words on Water: Nature and Agency in Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide.” Concentric: Literary and Cultural Studies 34.1 (March 2008): 21-44. The Hungry Tide follows Piyali Roy, an Indian-American cetologist, who comes to India on the trail of the Gangetic dolphin and, more importantly, the Irrawaddy dolphin. Her search leads her to the eastern edge of the country - a group of archipelagos that go by the name of Sunderbans.