:: Amitav Ghosh - Review ::

The Glass Palace

Anirvan Sen

Only a handful of people in this world have the capacity to interweave history with travel to make a story and one of them definitely is Amitav Ghosh. After his excellent work on Egypt (In An Antique Land), the author has used his craftsmanship to narrate a story from the Raj days. The Indian author has introduced the subtle cultural differences with extreme finesse and sensitivity in his latest work, The Glass Palace. Based in the East, in the land which was known as British India, the story starts from Burma (Myanmar) and traverses through pre-independent India, parts of Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore. The story touches upon various aspects of the Raj days. Indian soldiers donning the British uniform, the subtle racism, which existed between the locals and the foreigners, between the yellow and white, between the yellow and the brown. The story of The Glass Palace is based on two human groups: one stemming from the Burmese Royal family from Mandalay and the other individual, an orphan called Raj Kumar. The story starts with Raj Kumar, an orphan looking for a job and landing up in Mandalay.

The early parts of the book cast a light on the life of local people, when the British had just started to make their mark in that part of the world. Before the arrival of the British, the life in those parts existed in equilibrium. The trading mostly used to happen between neighbouring countries and a little volume would be traded outside the circle. With the growth of the British dominance, the scenario changed forever. "There was only one person in the food stall who knew exactly what that sound was, that was rolling in across the plain, along the silver curve of the Irrawaddy, to the western wall of Mandalays fort. His name was Rajkumar, and he was an Indian, a boy of twelve - not an authority to be relied upon.

"The pleasure about reading Amitav's work comes, not only from the story but the descriptions of the lifestyle, behaviour of people, the subtlety of the cultural impact and of course, the details of the day to day life.

"The swellings had grown to pineapple size and the elephants hide had begun to crack and break apart. As the hours passed the lesions grew yet larger and the cracks deepened. Soon the pustules began to leak a whitish ooze. Within a short while the animals hide was wet with discharge. Rivulets of blood-streaked pus began to drip to the ground. The soil around the animals feet turned into sludge churned with blood and ooze." Amitav has an eye for detail and that can be explained from the descriptions, he talks about a disease called Anthrax (which is also used as a biological war weapon in the present day). By dramatizing the effects of the disease, the impact on the readers mind is astounding. Amitav writes his description with the precision of a medical practitioner."The King walked out of the pavilion, flanked by Queen Supayalat and her mother. The procession passed slowly through the long corridors for the palace, and across the mirrored walls of the Hall of Audience, past the shouldered guns of he guard of honour and the snapped-off salutes of the English officers.

Two carriages were waiting by the east gate. Just as he was about to step in, the King noticed that the ceremonial canopy had seven tiers, the number allotted to a nobleman, not the nine due to a king." One of the most interesting facts about the Amitavs writing is his ease of using details of culture and customs which are not his native custom. He picks up the details and writes with such finesse, that people can be mistaken for thinking about the descriptions being written by a local. All in all, this book can definitely be classified as one of the best-written novels describing that period of history for that part of the world.

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