The Shadow Lines is a famous novel written by the famous Indian writer Amitav Ghosh and it was published in 1988. The background of the book is based on India, England and East Pakistan. This novel was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award and Anand Puraskar.
THE SHADOW LINES BY AMITAV GHOSH
Summary of The Shadow Lines By Amitav Ghosh
The Shadow Line is the story of a three-generation Indian Bengali family. The book is narrated by the unknown narrator, who was born in Calcutta in 1953. The narrator lives with his grandmother named Thamma and has never left Calcutta. His best friend is his uncle Tridib, as his uncle tells him the story of his childhood when he was in London. The narrator loves listening to his uncle’s childhood stories in London. The story of the novel begins with the narrator’s grandmother Thamma and grandfather Tridib named Justice Chandrashekhar Dutta Chowdhury.
The narrator’s grandmother Thamma was born in 1902 in Dhaka. Dhaka is in Bangladesh, but at that time Dhaka was part of India. When the narrator’s grandmother was young, there was a fight between her father and her uncle Jethamoshai that led to the division of their house. In 1935, when Thamma’s husband died due to pneumonia, she was 32 years old. But despite her husband’s death, she never asked her family for help and began working as a school teacher. Thamma had a young son at the time.
Then, in 1947, the partition of India occurred, and Dhaka became the capital of East Pakistan. After the partition of India, she never had the opportunity to return to her home in Dhaka, which was in East Pakistan, and her uncle still lives there. Thamma’s younger sister, Mayadebi, has three children: Robbie, Jatin, and Tridib.
Her husband, Shaheb, and their 9-year-old son, Tridib, traveled to London for a medical operation, something that wasn’t possible in India. In London, Tridib and his father lived with Mrs. Price. Mrs. Price has a daughter, May, and a son, Nick. When World War II broke out in London, Tridib and his father returned to India with many memories of London.
Jatin, the eldest son of Medhebi, married Queen Victoria. They both have a daughter named Ila. The narrator and his cousin Ila belong to the third generation of the family. Ila’s parents are wealthy and she used to travel a lot abroad with them. As you know, the narrator never left Calcutta and is very impressed by Tridib’s stories of London. Tridib used to tell the narrator that the world is imagination and advised him to increase his imaginative capacity.
On the other hand, Ila does not believe in Tridib’s irrelevant argument of imagination, as she prefers to explore the world by traveling rather than being alone in her imagination. After some time, Ila and her family travel to London, where they become good friends with Mrs. Price’s son Nick.
Ila was eight years old when she returned to India with her family for a festival. When the narrator met Ila at a family function, she started blushing. Ila then takes the narrator to the tent at home, where the two play a game that Ila used to play with her friend Nick in London.
The story now focuses on Tridib’s life in 1959. That year, Tridib and Mrs. Price’s daughter, May, write several letters to each other. Later, May tells him that she will visit him in India. Now, let’s move on to Thamma’s life. Themma learns that her 90-year-old uncle Jethoomoshai is still alive in Dhaka.
Due to the war between Pakistan and East Pakistan, Thamma wants to bring her uncle Jethoomoshai back to India. Her younger sister Mayadebi invites her to come to Dhaka. Now Thamma has the opportunity to go to Dhaka and bring her uncle back to India.
May, who is now in India, decides to go with Thamma. Tridib also joins the pair. At that moment, our narrator realises that there is something between May and Tridib. The three of them had come to Dhaka to take their uncle from Dhaka to India.
Shortly after, riots broke out in Dhaka, but Thamma still wanted her uncle to return to India. When Thamma reached her uncle’s house in Dhaka, he was too old to recognise his nieces. Suddenly riots broke out in Dhaka and the situation worsened, and her uncle died in them.
Shock sets in when Tridib also dies in the riots. The narrator is shocked to learn that his uncle Tridib has died in the Dhaka riots. The narrator still has many memories of his uncle Tridib and is unable to forget his memories. After graduating from India, the narrator goes to London where he meets Nick for the first time. As time passes, the narrator learns that Ila is marrying Nick, and he feels very unwell. At Ila and Nick’s wedding party, the narrator drinks heavily and, drunk, begins to behave strangely.
After witnessing all this drama, May takes the narrator to her home. The narrator begins to abuse May and blames her for Tidib’s death. In the morning, when the narrator wakes up, he feels bad for his bad behavior.
The story moves the narrator as he sees how his uncle Tidib sacrificed his life to save his grandmother and May. At the end of the novel, the narrator discovers that Ila’s husband, Nick, is having affairs with other women and she is unhappy with her married life.
Amazon Link : – The Best Books of Amitav Ghosh You Should Read
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