Intelligence alone is not enough. Review on Hungry Tide - The, Amitav Ghosh

The plot:

Kanai who against his better judgment is traveling to the Sunderbans out of a sheer sense of filial duty meets Piya the androgynous, westernized , self-sufficient cetologist. Together they damage the emotional ecology of the complex Sunderbans and its people.

The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh is a book about compatible opposites.The three pairs of characters- Mashima and Saar, Fokir and Moyona, Kanai and Piya are different enough from each other to be able to create adequate friction as it were, but just when the tedium begins to set in, the differences are conveniently eliminated by untimely exits from the story.

Idealism vs Pragmatism Every pair has one failed idealist and one pragmatic achiever. While the idealist achiever pair is obvious in the case of Moyona/Fokir and Nilima/Nirmal, it is not so obvious in the case of Piya/Kanai- but even with the novel ending with a comment on Piyas dedication to the river dolphin, is she really the idealist in the pair? Failed couples At the end of the novel, all of them stand solitary. Mashima- had anyways lost her husband, even at the beginning of the novel, Moyona loses her husband towards the end, and Piya who began the novel as a loner, ends as one too?.

While there are huge differences between the three women characters, there seems to be a common thread tying them together. They are the ones with the sense of permanence as against the men who all seem removed from reality- even the ever-pragmatic urbane Kanai who breaks down after his traumatic adventure in Garjontla and acts flustered, begging Piya to come to Delhi, or even writing her the letter explaining the legend of Bon Bibi.

The effect of the Sunderbans The Sunderbans becomes a proxy for the characters inner self. Murky and deep and chaotic. For all the characters apart from Kanai, the Sunderbans represent a safe haven- Nirmal finds his lost idealism here, Piya more meaning for her life?s purpose. Fokir- his mother, even Nilima a sense of pragmatic peace. Kanai alone is troubled, with the close encounter? is this because he recognizes his identity crisis?

The verdict: Ghosh?s writing is impeccable, but the appeal ceases with the head, it does not move the heart.