tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post3563932485804612588..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Opium, giant whales and khidmatgars: a conversation with Amitav GhoshJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-43647898494226210732011-03-29T22:47:51.748+05:302011-03-29T22:47:51.748+05:30Must be an enjoyable read Sea of Poppies by Amitav...Must be an enjoyable read <a href="http://www.bookchums.com/book-detail.php?b=NzIy" rel="nofollow">Sea of Poppies</a> by <a href="http://www.bookchums.com/authors-details.php?author_id=OTI=" rel="nofollow">Amitav Ghosh</a>. loved the way you wrote it. I find your review very genuine and orignal, this book is going in by "to read" list.mohithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06089832764608632747noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-54104003845135859812009-06-03T06:52:47.346+05:302009-06-03T06:52:47.346+05:30Actually, I wasn't intimidated by the language...Actually, I wasn't intimidated by the language at all. I could recognize quite a few of the words, and most importantly, the story and the characters are so powerful that they can keep you going without getting too caught up in th vagaries of the language innovations (although that would be interesting in itself, no doubt.) <br /><br />About Dalrymple's comment, I think Ghosh is one of the most spontaneous Indian writers in English. His writing is not driven by agendas or points to prove. He has wonderful stories in his head and interesting characters to share with us. Above all, he has an amazing grasp of facts and his ability to research without making it seem synthetic and researched and making it so completely believable (the opium factory, etc., in the novel) is amazing. I cannot wait to read the second book.Niranjan Khandigenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-86939591057883654502008-09-21T02:48:00.000+05:302008-09-21T02:48:00.000+05:30I got my copy of 'Sea of Poppies' personally autog...I got my copy of 'Sea of Poppies' personally autographed at a bookstore in Kolkata. I keep flipping back to the third page to see my name written by one of the most seamlessly eloquent authors of the present world along with his signature! Every page of the book is a treat. I am sure I am not lending this to anyone!<BR/>And there could not have been a more straight-from-the-heart and satisfying interview to match the experience. (Some of it bears an uncanny resemblance to the CNN-IBN interview by Amrita Tripathi...but then it is but the same person!)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-50433588644236286282008-09-05T10:43:00.000+05:302008-09-05T10:43:00.000+05:30This is a bit of an aside, but I was wondering whe...This is a bit of an aside, but I was wondering whether anyone knows why books are so expensive in India?<BR/><BR/>I just bought a few books in Delhi, and some of their prices made my eyes bug out. Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies was Rs. 600 -- about $15! This is just 25% less than the $20 or so that you pay for typical hardcover books in the USA. Anita Jain's Marrying Anita was Rs. 500 -- in paperback!! Assuming a purchasing power parity of 5:1, that is the equivalent of an American mass market paperback costing about $100!<BR/><BR/>Surely books in India should be much cheaper for people to be able to buy and read them? Publishing costs in India should be much lower, and Indian publishing houses (including Penguin) seem to have very little publicity compared to Western publishing houses; this should drive down price even further. What is the reason for the high cost?<BR/><BR/>Does anyone connected with the publishing world have an idea?Armchair Guyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03834195406816335480noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-75796604617179796042008-08-12T16:20:00.000+05:302008-08-12T16:20:00.000+05:30I enjoyed the interview. I look forward now to rea...I enjoyed the interview. I look forward now to reading "Sea of Poppies". It is not available in Brazil yet. I found both 'The Shadow Lines" and "The Glass Palace" philosophical, in their own ways, informative and entertaining. Maybe sometime we will have the pleasure of meeting Mr. Ghosh here in Brazil...Cielo Griselda Festinohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09064782888557285891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-31157735387029322008-08-07T08:30:00.000+05:302008-08-07T08:30:00.000+05:30Anon: yes, I don't think Ghosh thinks of himself a...Anon: yes, I don't think Ghosh thinks of himself as a social reformer, at least not in any overt sense. But again, maybe one should let the books speak for themselves, rather than trusting everything the author says. Besides, why should a book that "educates readers for a greater good" and a book that entertains be mutually exclusive? Personally, I wouldn't want to read a book if it didn't entertain me on some basic level - for it to educate me towards a greater good, it would need to engage me first.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-64488668772495255112008-08-07T07:06:00.000+05:302008-08-07T07:06:00.000+05:30Incredible insight into a writer's mind! Thanks fo...Incredible insight into a writer's mind! Thanks for that. Since I bought and read his "Glass Palace" he is one of my favorite authors. <BR/><BR/>Even for a Burmese like me his depiction of Burmese characters and detail images of teak forest scenes had fascinated me for a very long time.<BR/><BR/>Though his mentioning in this interview that his characters are created not for the history sake but the reverse is a bit strange for me, as I strongly believe that for a historical novelist the primary aim is to educate and to emotionally evoke his readers for a greater good, not just entertainment.<BR/><BR/>May be Mr. Amitav Gosh is more of a novelist than a social reformer I thought he is?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-35763053000357841302008-08-01T11:38:00.000+05:302008-08-01T11:38:00.000+05:30Thanks for this very informative and engaging piec...Thanks for this very informative and engaging piece...I wish I could have read this interview earlier, would have used it for my own piece on Indian writing <BR/>in English.<BR/><BR/>http://sandyi.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-indian-is-indian-writing-in-english.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-28906387657084172472008-07-27T01:21:00.000+05:302008-07-27T01:21:00.000+05:30Didn't manage to go through Dalrymple's review, bu...Didn't manage to go through Dalrymple's review, but I wonder why would he want characters (or real people) he's covered extensively in his own works The White Mughals and The Last Mughal, covered in Ibis, given the clear plot in this book.Karan Rajpalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08674940570777978653noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-27665890131382190092008-07-08T12:13:00.000+05:302008-07-08T12:13:00.000+05:30wonderful!!! specially enjoyed the bit on language...wonderful!!! specially enjoyed the bit on language. Thanks for the post. :)nishikutumbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08198654537909915846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-22436528651939101872008-07-04T23:04:00.000+05:302008-07-04T23:04:00.000+05:30loved the interview. loving the book. thoroughl...loved the interview. loving the book. thoroughly enjoying the lingo amitav recreates. only thing i didn't like was the profusion of colons and semi-colons. they were so annoying i nearly gave up reading after a few pages. <BR/><BR/>please mister ghosh, do try reducing their number in the next two books.neelusinghhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10030337042419094346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-88872416401505745942008-07-01T20:47:00.000+05:302008-07-01T20:47:00.000+05:30Available at 25% off + Free ShippingSea of Poppies...Available at 25% off + Free Shipping<BR/>Sea of Poppies<BR/>http://www.flipkart.com/books/Sea-Of-Poppies/Ghosh-Amitav/0670082031/K3W3F9YK1B.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-81541538412555999342008-06-25T07:57:00.000+05:302008-06-25T07:57:00.000+05:30I suppose its a bit like the Spike Lee/Clint Eastw...I suppose its a bit like the Spike Lee/Clint Eastwood sparring. Is it necessary to include a black character or have a positive black character? Eastwood is free to depict what he wants and not be hampered by PC. Yet, one does get annoyed by, for example, those endless WWI fables where Indians are simply absent (or like the English Patient film where the role is markedly reduced) and can see SL's POV.<BR/><BR/>When the shoe is on the other foot, what is one's take? I do think a lot of post colonial literature still has a whiff of reverse racism if you can call it that. At its crudest, its like a Manoj Kumar film or recent BollyWood with its patently laughable western stereotypes to more literary material where E/W divides are set up to the advantage of the E. Entire legions of Indian authors writing in English seem to have made their reputations on trashing the west and trading on white guilt. <BR/><BR/>Its of course probably a useful corrective to what went before which was usually a white person's viewpoint. And Ghosh is entitled to his vision. But it would be nice if our literature reached a stage where it was mature enough to transcend its colonial/post colonial obsessions and present a more rounded and ambivalent tale (I guess Seth comes closest and who knows maybe even Chetan Bhagat!). <BR/><BR/>As a disclaimer, I haven't read Sea of Poppies - merely going by the Dalrymple review and others. So I may be wrong on the book per se. From the reviews, it seemed to me that Ghosh wanted to create a universe of people and language which has been absent from the collective imagination so far. I suppose WD's point is you can do this without reducing the English to caricatures.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-34318462628266502672008-06-24T22:07:00.000+05:302008-06-24T22:07:00.000+05:30one-handed backhand: haven't read Dalrymple's revi...one-handed backhand: haven't read Dalrymple's review but I'm not sure about the second point you mention. Ghosh is dealing with a very specific set of characters in his book - he isn't necessarily using them to comment on the attitudes of all the Brits of the period. Why should he feel obliged to include the "sympathetic Brits who married Indians and left their properties to the Anglo-Indian children" in his canvas?Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-12820726277557227442008-06-24T21:09:00.000+05:302008-06-24T21:09:00.000+05:30Jai, read William Dalrymple's review of Sea of Pop...Jai, read William Dalrymple's review of Sea of Poppies in Outlook (JUne 10-16 issue). He thinks the language is unconvincing and more extreme than foud in books and letters of the period. <BR/>Also, that the Englishmen and women in the book are one dimensionally bad and racist... he says that Ghosh missed the whole lot of sympathetic Brits who married Indians and left their properties to the Anglo-Indian children.. <BR/>The language was fun to read and the second point has some merit... wish Ghosh had been asked that..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-42913634503836388242008-06-23T09:04:00.000+05:302008-06-23T09:04:00.000+05:30Maddy: simple enough - because I still haven't rea...Maddy: simple enough - because I still haven't read it. Have been meaning to for ages.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-91206037008727726032008-06-22T22:07:00.000+05:302008-06-22T22:07:00.000+05:30wondering why you never mentioned one of his most ...wondering why you never mentioned one of his most fascinating works and probably one amitav (Egyptians call him - ya amitab) holds dearest - In an Antique Land.Maddyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18163804773843409980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-70226412354493640892008-06-20T13:03:00.000+05:302008-06-20T13:03:00.000+05:30Good post Jai, Amitav Ghosh is probably one of the...Good post Jai, Amitav Ghosh is probably one of the more interesting novelists since the boom in contemporary Indian writing . His "The Glass Palace" is the only work that I have read of his ,however it is an interesting novel.<BR/><BR/>You are right when you suggest that he mixes a novelist's flair with an anthrolpolgist's keeness to learn about people . I am surprised that he is interested in 'melville'. I love 'Moby Dick' for its sheer canvas and the ability to of the writer to keep you engrossed in that mammoth work.Shwet Awasthihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04707072898697709519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-61444553614077075652008-06-20T00:42:00.000+05:302008-06-20T00:42:00.000+05:30Have you read his essay on 1984 riots? He talks ab...Have you read his essay on 1984 riots? He talks about the Bosnian writer Karahasan and the "aesthetic of indifference".Karahasan said that "Whatever happens,happens in language first" So,applying and extending this theory of linguistic determinism to clash of cultures and creation of pidgin languages,it can be said that the assimilation of languages has some correspondence with assimilation of cultures.<BR/>I don't know if Amitava knows about the philosopher king Bharta Hari from ancient India who has a well developed and exquisitely beautiful theory of linguistic determinism.Rahulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08600228969911790479noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-45504087508171823742008-06-19T15:55:00.000+05:302008-06-19T15:55:00.000+05:30aandthirtyeights: do read the Chrestomathy as well...aandthirtyeights: do read the Chrestomathy as well - there's some more detail on "banian" there.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-31198886168410916062008-06-19T14:52:00.000+05:302008-06-19T14:52:00.000+05:30That was an interesting interview to read. Inciden...That was an interesting interview to read. Incidentally, you can get some of the references Mr. Ghosh mentioned in Hobson-Jobson too. Looking forward to read the book now. As a child I was quite amused to find some of the commonly used "Indian" words in my grandfather's OED and when I had mentioned that in my school; I was laughed at and accused of making the words up as that is not a pukka-English.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-20992286876340872612008-06-19T13:35:00.000+05:302008-06-19T13:35:00.000+05:30Thank you so much for a wonderful interview... I r...Thank you so much for a wonderful interview... I remember asking my English teacher in school if there was any connection between 'banian' and 'banyan' - the entire class laughed at me. It became such a rage that I had all kinds of people asking me if I thought banians grew on trees! I need to find that teacher now, and point her to this link!aandthirtyeightshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00644980602293705853noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-59107050054688414962008-06-19T13:08:00.000+05:302008-06-19T13:08:00.000+05:30awesome interview..thankx...will definately read t...awesome interview..thankx...will definately read the novel!!!<BR/><BR/>this is the first time when an intellectual is telling that swearing beti-chod, is no big deal and it has been around for centuries..he could get in big trouble if he gives it a shot:PToon Indianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07675962505129911588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-82485798072945716912008-06-19T11:56:00.000+05:302008-06-19T11:56:00.000+05:30Sanjay: thanks. Just to clarify btw: the bit about...Sanjay: thanks. Just to clarify btw: the bit about the friend who thought it was caricatured wasn't a reference to your review. It was someone who has had a hard time even getting to the book's halfway point, because the language has been such a barrier for him.<BR/><BR/>one-handed backhand: I think I might need to rework the bits in the interview where we're going back and forth about the language, because I just realised it seems like I was harrying him about his usage. That wasn't the case at all - as I wrote in the earlier post, the language was what I found most stimulating about the book. Love the Ibis Chrestomathy too.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-76980366420876656382008-06-19T11:27:00.000+05:302008-06-19T11:27:00.000+05:30good post Jai. I think you make too much abt the u...good post Jai. I think you make too much abt the use of language in the book. I finished the book yesterday and while i agree there were instances when you had to read aloud to make out what was being said, as u had mentioned in the earlier post, it fit with the characters and what was happneing in that situation. I think this is Ghosh's best so far. The writing is beautiful, one particlaur passage where he describes the words for longing in Bhojpuri is simply brilliant. And Ghosh is right about the charcters gwroing up on you and you had to tell the story all the way.. I for sure want to know what happneded to Neel, Deeeti, Pugli and teh rest.. their fate and that of their children.. <BR/>PS: I think it was godd that there were no italics used.. with so many of such owrds used, the ictlaics would havestood out in the narrative and be a jarring experience for the reader.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com