reading the calcutta chromosome

had read about amitav ghosh and had shortlisted the sea of poppies trilogy but didn't find it in om books and so chickened out. buying from amazon doesn't seem to be a real thing. neither does buying a new book from a name brand store... (my jack reacher book is coming via amazon... don't judge me... )

amitav ghosh is a history man first. a bengali before that. i love my history, only not... like .. my favorites are flashman, the tintins, the mummy, master li, interesting times, judge dee , noble house, shogun; hence my interest in ag

fate moved things so that i landed at a cousin's place by an unexpected twist - a derelict bank account had cash in it ,so after unnerving depressing scenarios of imagining the bank denying me access to it, i snuck into the bank one day,  on a tangent ( the normal NEVE works for me) - and learned with the greatest of joy and relief that it had an aunt's name on it - and part of getting the documentation to her via another uncle, i landed up at their house. i could've used any of the courier services of the day, masquerading behind taxi service and instant grocery deliveries, but i decided to drop in myself. and my cousin lent me calcutta chromosome

ag doing sf

calcutta chromosome has the feel of cory doctorow's toaster story... the same detached narration of the rapture of nerds ...

like slices of onion that one keeps eating, even though you know they are not chips, and only because you ate the previous one, ( i can do this with thin slices of garlic also. the tongue is insatiable for masala)  , i kept reading line after page after chapter

 i realised this book is a sandwich, the science , while superb, forms only the top one of dreary dry  bread slices.the history forms the bottom slice.  the mayonnaise, or the chipotle sauce, is the premise of the plot ( always a sucker for british bungalow life i am). the tomato the onion the lettuce the cheese slice -  are the people and streets of calcutta where the story flows into and eventually settles down into, and the meat (or veggie patty) of the sandwich is human nature. we read to read about ourselves, to meet ourselves, rest is all delivery mechanism and garnishing

like i said - bengali and history buff first

ps : murugan seems like the last name one would have , for a person who talks like that ( antar and the thai cafe )

did i mention how reading a book is helping rehabilitate my mobile-screen-worn eyes ?

pps : [spoiler] the ending doesn't weave together 

i don't like china mieville - his writing puts a dark desolate deserted feeling inside me - like a usual hanging place on small town on sunday - full of memories but foreboding and forbidding