Piya Hungry Tide
Amitabh Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide(2004) is a living testimony of the naturalistic, dangerous and utterly destitute lifestyle of the inmates of the “tide country” Subdarbans – an archipelago of Gangetic delta. He includes the popular myth of Bon Bibi to familiarise us with the strong faith of the islanders in keeping their lives intact in the eternal strife with merciless Nature.
Piyali Roy, the American citizen of Indian origin is one of the major characters of the novel.
She does not belong to the tide country but is a visitor to the place. Being a cetologist by profession, she has come
to the Sundarbans for research work. Cetology involves the study of marine mammals and her specialised area
is the sea water river dolphin that is found in great waterways like Ganges, Mekong, Irrawaddy.
It is indeed very
astonishing that a young woman who can not speak nor even understand the language of the place can dare to
visit the alien land without any companion or even a translator. She is exposed to dangers from several ways:
She is aware of this fact as well. Yet her courage and her determination renders her unyielding who would not
stop at any condition until she reaches her destination.
Her deviation from norms is marked at the very
beginning of the novel that starts in a crowded Indian railway station where her “neatly composed androgyny of
her appearance seemed out of place, almost exotic”. Piya does not at all resemble the so called
enchanting heroine of romantic fictions, rather she is identified by “the unaccustomed delineation of her stance.”
What is more striking is her worldview- at so early an age , she has embraced solitude. She does not need any
companionship or assistance of others, but prefers to be alone. “It‟s easier to slip through the net if you‟re on
your own.” Possibly her tainted childhood when she witnessed the bitter altercation between her
parents along with her failure in a relationship that ended with disastrous results led her to live a secluded life.
Whatever be the case, her defiance of gender roles imposed upon the “second sex” by patriarchal society is
evident in her every movement. Though the readers can never fail to trace her vulnerable position whether in her
encounter with notorious Mejda or her chance meeting with lecherous city beau Kanai, she is in a sense
unpliable.
There are certain implications that Kanai‟s intention is not so noble- “…but if life had taught him any
lesson, it was that opportunity often rose unexpectedly, Piya appeared to be a case in point….If Piya decided to
avail herself of her invitation, then there was no reason not to savour whatever pleasure might be an offer.” This is the eternal tragedy of women who are considered more a flesh to satisfy the hunger of men
than human beings with desire and aspirations. Kanai’s description of Piya as “tasty young morsel” preferred by
Tiger well testifies to the claim. Nilima sadly says to Kanai, “You’re all the same, you men. Who can blame the
tigers when predators like you pass for human beings?”.
The forest guard and Mejda also had taken
her granted and were convinced that a young foreign girl like her can never be able to manage without their
help, as Piya senses,
The man had evidently assumed she had no choice but to follow his orders, that she would put up with
whatever demands he chose to make. From the start she had sensed a threat from the guard and his friend: she
knew that to return to the launch in these circumstances would be an acknowledgement of helplessness.
Her instinct told her that she would be safer in the shelter of a complete stranger and rustic fisherman.
“But her experience with the guard had bruised her confidence and she felt as though she were recovering from
an assault”. That is why the assuring gesture of Fokir “had the paradoxical effect of making her aware
of her own vulnerability.” Fokir, however is an agent of patriarchy, rather a talisman for Piya who is saved from
death at the cost of his life. Though Piya did not have “the good fortune to fall in love with the right man in the
right place” perhaps it was the presence of Fokir that assured Piya of the existence of true human
feelings that cannot be defined by sexual terms. She is not the “tasty young morsel” to be taken advantage of,
but a woman who deserves respect, modesty, and courtesy. If the nasty forest guard or Mejda represents the
oppressive patriarchy who debase women, Fokir affirms Piya that uncorrupted human hearts still exist.
Piya is intelligent but unambitious and begins the novel with a deep enthusiasm for animals and nature conservation. Yet as she gets to know Fokir and the novel progresses, she begins to learn about the human cost of conservation.
