After being interrogated by police for attending a socialist meeting, a heartbroken Nirmal and his wife, Nilima, seek to make a new start on Lusibari where Nilima’s family have arranged a teaching position for Nirmal at the local high school. Following Independence, Nirmal’s views attracted unwanted attention. As a young man Nirmal made a name as a Leftist intellectual who gave impassioned lectures on English Literature at university. Kanai’s uncle, Nirmal, was something of a dreamer, a romantic and an idealist. On one such occasion he was sent to live with an uncle and aunt on the island of Lusibari in the Sundarbans to cool off after being suspended from school. Naturally, such attributes and outlook got him into trouble as a youth. He has led a playboy existence, never marrying though now middle-aged, preferring instead to enjoy himself with flings and lovers. Talent, security and confidence has provided a life where he has never felt particularly challenged, in danger or in want. With a gift for languages, he has built a successful business providing translators, much in demand in the Indian capital. In The Hungry Tide, two outsiders journey to the Sundarbans, two very different people on very different missions. Insisting that they are ‘tide people’ who neither know nor want any other way of life. Nevertheless, people continue to manage a meagre living there. Habitable land is sparse and can be easily reclaimed by swamp or sea in quick time, the region is vulnerable to cyclones emerging from the Bay which can utterly devastate the communities there, while even the daily routine includes the danger of crocodiles, sharks and man-eating tigers who probably kill far more than even the locals realise. People have inhabited the Sundarbans for centuries despite the precariousness of life there. There is no prettiness here to invite the stranger in: yet, to the world at large this archipelago is known as “the Sundarban”, which means, “the beautiful forest”. They number in the thousands, these islands some are immense and some no larger than sandbars some have lasted through recorded history while other were washed into being just a year or two ago. These islands are the trailing threads of India’s fabric, the ragged fringe of her sari, the ãchol that follows her, half-wetted by the sea. It makes for a complex ecosystem as fresh and saltwater mix between dry land and mangrove swamp. Here, several rivers, including the Ganges, reach the sea, splintering as they do into innumerable smaller flows forming a large archipelago of islands. The Sundarbans is a region that straddles the border of what is today India and Bangladesh, where the land meets the Bay of Bengal. Following behind two outsiders who have little forewarning of what secrets and dangers await them. In The Hungry Tide Amitav Ghosh takes the reader on a journey into one of the world’s most unique ecosystems.
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