# The Hungry Tide


**[The Hungry
Tide](http://www.harpercollins.com.au/title.cfm?ISBN=0007179871&Author=0016773)**
by [Amitav Ghosh](http://www.amitavghosh.com/) is an amazing book, and
highly recommended. I picked it up on the airport, since I knew Ghosh
from his [In an Antique
Land](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0679727833?v=glance),
which we read in anthropology. I liked that book, although I was
somewhat sceptical to it’s value as an ethnography (which was why we
read it), perhaps I didn’t feel that it was “scientific” enough.
However, in The Hungry Tide, he is not trying to be scientific, it’s
“only” a novel, but what a novel!

I think part of the reason for my excitement is that I have been quite
interested in Bangladesh for some time, after I found out about BRAC
([previous post](http://houshuang.org/blog/2005/04/29/brac-2/)), and I
might study Bengali next year (although I fear a timetable collision).
The plot takes place in the
[Sundarbans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sundarbans), an
archipelago straddling India and Bangladesh, and includes a marine
biologist studying dolphins, a modern businessman from Calcutta, an
idealistic colonialist, the ravages of nature, development… I am just
outlining some themes (did I mention that it is beautifully and
touchingly written), since I want you to read it yourself. Please.

(If you find the issue of Morijchapi interesting, there is apparently
[scientifical papers about it
available](http://locana.blogspot.com/2005/05/amra-kara-bastuhara.html).)