Thanks to Mixie for leading me on to the The Hungry Tide. I started reading it last night while waiting up for him, came back today and bought it, and finished it up in one go: which is pretty amazing for me.
The book brought back some vivid memories.
Bishupishi was posted in Goshaba for a WHO assignment when I visited the Sunderbans with her, for the first time, probably as a 12-13-year old. I was transported back both to that time, and the more recent trips through 2002-'03. The novel brought it all rushing back.
Have you ever experienced night? ASfloat on the Raimangal on a moonless night, sitting at the bow of the steamer that was our home for three days on water, I understood a little of what a 'night' can be. It is awe-inspiring, terrifyingly, but it's also supremely beautiful. The darkness that descends on the creeks and the rivers of the Sunderbans is almost sexual. It is its own, something that can never be found in any other forest in the world. Untamed, uninhabited, untouched by civilisation. It's pure: the pull that you feel here comes from the gut. The "Tide" delivers that pull.
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