The Reading Room

Sea of Poppies
Amitav Ghosh
Published: 2008, Viking Press India
Sea of Poppies, a complex and magnificent tale, is an historical drama novel and part of the Ibis’ trilogy, novels written by Ghosh covering the opium trade between India and China during the first half of the 19th century. “The vision of a tall-masted ship, at sail on the ocean, came to Deeti on an otherwise ordinary day”. Deeti, an ordinary, pious village woman, becomes one of the main protagonists. She is a caring mother and diligent wife to Hukam Sign, a disabled retired soldier who works in the Ghazipur Opium Factory. Deeti and her village are heavily involved in the growth of the poppy crop for the
East India Company, which will ultimately make its way to China, fuelling the opium trade and the coffers of the Britishers. We are also introduced to Deeti’s brother in law who tries to rape her, but Kalua, who tends the oxen, saves her from her fate and their love catches fire. In order to escape the wickedness of the family and the opium, Deeti and Kalua make a plan to escape aboard the Ibis.
In the next scene, Ghosh introduces Zachary Reid, an American sailor from quadroon parents, who is on the run from racism in his home country. Zachary joins the Ibis voyage from Maryland to Calcutta, along with its new owner Mr. Burnham, who has acquired vast wealth through opium trading. A series of events happen on the voyage leading to the death of some of the crew and consequently Zachary is made up to second in command with the help of a Seang Ali, a close friend and militiaman. We are introduced to another complex and fascinating character, Neel Rattan Halder, who hails from wealthy ruling dynasty in the Indian subcontinents, but has also been a brutalised victim of the British rule, and they discuss the business of opium trading into China. Next we meet Paulette Lambert, who is to become a central character. She is the daughter of a famous French botanist, and raised in India by her father’s mistress together with her native born friend Jodu, who is like a brother to her. Following the death of her father, Paulette is taken under the wing of Mr and Mrs. Burnham in Calcutta, the former having nefarious intentions. Paulette, together with Jodu, escape his clutches and she finds herself on board the Ibis and is miraculously reunited with her mother in Mauritius in the most serendipitous manner.
In the last section, the characters converge on board the Ibis as it sails to China heavily laden with opium and the fortunes of its richly assembled passengers. The novel closes with Jodu, Serang Ali, and Kalua starting a new journey to Singapore. Meanwhile, Deeti, Zachary, and Paulette find themselves en route to Mauritius in a longboat alongside impoverished migrant labourers also desperate to escape the opium fields, who have been tricked into slavery, having put their trust and livelihoods into the wrong hands.
Sea of Poppies is an impeccably crafted, rich and vibrant cloak and dagger page turner, which layers interwoven tales of the opium trade, the beginnings of Indian labour migration between Asia Europe and Africa, and the lead up to the Opium Wars between China and the British Empire. Ghosh is a fabulous story teller in the real sense who has crafted a saga stuffed with plots, sub plots and other machinations. The language is packed with Indo English regional dialects of the age using long discarded words and expressions. The style takes time to absorb and understand, but once fully immersed, the coarseness, the humour and richness of the language join to cast a truly grand tale. Sea of Poppies is a beautifully crafted and hugely entertaining novel.
David Cornell
June 2020
The information contained above and in other entries in the Ocean Dial Book Review Series is intended for general information and entertainment purposes only, and should not be relied upon in making, or refraining from making, any investment decisions. No information provided herein should or can be taken to constitute any form of advice or recommendation as to the merits of any investment decision. You should take independent advice from a suitably qualified investment adviser before making any investment decisions.
Only the paranoid survive
Published: 1997, HarperCollins Business
How to exploit crisis points that challenge every company and career. The President and CEO of Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, reveals how to identify and exploit the key moments of change in any industry that generates either drastic failure or incredible success.
Range: How Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World
Published: 2019, Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House)
This book explores how to cultivate that broad range of knowledge, how to get diverse and inter-disciplinary experience in a world which is getting hyper-specialised.
Atomic Habits
Published: 2018, Penguin Random House
Atomic habits tries to explain how even tiny changes (as small as 1%) if done consistently can have a huge impact on eventual outcomes. Tiny habits performed everyday amplify your success. They help you grow into a person you wish to become.
The Order of Time
Published: 2018 (English edition), Penguin Books
Over the last 150 years, our understanding about time and space has undergone a radical transformation.In ‘The Order of Time’, the Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli, explores the illusion of time, calling it the “greatest mystery”.
Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans
Published: 2019, Pelican
Questions such as will AI take over the world, cause mass unemployment, make humans obsolete or create a Marxist utopia feel like they are in abundance today.
Investing – The last liberal art
Published: 2013, Columbia University Press
Liberal arts is a study of history, literature, writing, philosophy, sociology, psychology, creative arts and more. The objective of this book is to encourage investors to increase their knowledge of other disciplines in order to facilitate better decision…
Merger Masters –Tales of Arbitrage
Published: 2018, Columbia Business School Publishing
Rather than being a technical tome, this book articulates the rewards and challenges of risk arbitrage through stories. Divided into two parts, the first runs through seventeen leading practitioners with a chapter allocated to each.
The Made-in-India Manager
Published: 2018, Hachette India
With some of the world’s leading companies boasting Indian management, Gopalakrishnan and Banerjee’s book explores what it is that makes Indian born and bred managers so successful on a global scale.