The Hungry Tide

Nilima frowned as she watched the men and women who were floundering through the mud. ‘Even to look at that hurts my knees,’ she said. ‘I could do it once, but I can’t any more – it’s too much for my legs. That’s the problem, you see: there isn’t as much water in the river nowadays and at low tide it gets very shallow. We brought the Trust’s launch to take you to Lusibari, but it’ll be at least two hours before it can make its way here to pick us up.’ She directed an accusatory glance at Kanai. ‘It really would have been so much easier if you had come through Basonti.’

‘I didn’t know,’ said Kanai ruefully. ‘I wish you’d told me. The only reason I wanted to come through Canning was that this was the route we took when you brought me to Lusibari in 1970.’

As he looked around, taking in the sights, Kanai had a vivid recollection of Nirmal’s silhouette, outlined against the sky. Nirmal had put him in mind of a long-legged waterbird – maybe a heron or a stork. The impression was heightened by his clothes and umbrella: his loose white drapes had flapped in the wind like a mantle of feathers, while the shape of his chhata was not unlike that of a long, pointed bill.

‘I still remember him, standing here, while we were waiting for a boat.’

‘Nirmal?’

‘Yes. He was dressed in his usual white dhuti-panjabi and he had his umbrella in his hands.’

Suddenly Nilima seized his elbow. ‘Stop, Kanai. Don’t talk about it. I can’t bear it.’

Kanai cut himself short. ‘Is it still upsetting for you? After all these years?’

Nilima shivered. ‘It’s just this place – this is where he was found, you know. Right here on the embankment in Canning. He only lived another couple of months after that. He must have been out in the rain, because he caught pneumonia.’

‘I didn’t know about that,’ Kanai said. ‘What brought him to Canning?’

‘I still don’t know for sure,’ Nilima said. ‘His behaviour had become very erratic, as it tended to when he was under stress. He had retired as headmaster some months before and was never the same again. He would disappear without leaving any word. It was around the time of the Morichjhãpi incident, so I was beside myself with worry.’

‘Oh?’ said Kanai. ‘What was that? I don’t recall it exactly.’

‘Some refugees had occupied one of the islands in the forest,’ Nilima said. ‘There was a confrontation with the authorities that resulted in a lot of violence. The government wanted to force the refugees to return to their resettlement camp in central India. They were being put into trucks and buses and taken away. In the meanwhile the whole district was filled with rumours. I was terrified of what might happen to Nirmal if he was found wandering around on his own: for all I knew he’d just been forced on to a bus and sent off.’

‘Is that what happened?’

‘That’s my suspicion,’ said Nilima. ‘But someone must have recognized him and let him off somewhere. He managed to make his way back to Canning – and this was where he was found, right here on this embankment.’

‘Didn’t you ask him where he’d been?’ Kanai said.

‘Of course I did, Kanai,’ Nilima said. ‘But by that time he was incapable of answering rationally; it was impossible to get any sense out of him. His only moment of clarity after that was when he mentioned this packet of writings he’d left for you. At the time I thought his mind was wandering again – but it turns out it wasn’t.’

Kanai put an arm around her shoulders. ‘It must have been very hard for you.’

Nilima raised a hand to wipe her eyes. ‘I still remember coming here to get him,’ she said. ‘He was standing here shouting, “The Matla will rise! The Matla will rise!” His clothes were all soiled and there was mud on his face. I’ll never get that image out of my head.’

A long-buried memory stirred in Kanai’s mind. ‘“The Matla will rise.” Is that what he was saying? He must have been thinking of that story he used to tell.’

‘What story?’ Nilima said sharply.

‘Don’t you remember? About the viceroy who built this port, and Mr Piddington, the man who invented the word “cyclone”, and how he predicted that the Matla would rise to drown Canning?’

‘Stop!’ Nilima clapped her hands over her ears. ‘Please don’t talk about it, Kanai. I can’t bear to remember all that. That’s why I wanted you to deal with this packet of his. I just don’t have the strength to revisit all of that.’

‘Of course,’ said Kanai, remorsefully. ‘I know it’s hard for you. I won’t mention it.’

Then too, Kanai remembered, there had been a long wait on the embankment. Not because of the tides or the mud, but because of a simple lack of boats heading in the right direction. He had sat with Nilima in a tea-stall while Nirmal was sent to stand atop the embankment to watch for boats.

Nirmal, Kanai remembered, had not been very effective at keeping watch. On his most recent visit to a bookshop, in Calcutta, he had bought a copy of a Bangla translation of Rainer Maria Rilke’s Duino Elegies – the translator, Buddhadeb Basu, was a poet he had once known. All the while he was meant to be watching for a boat, Nirmal’s attention had kept returning to his recent acquisition. For fear of Nilima he hadn’t dared to open the book. Instead, he had held it aslant across his chest, and stolen glances whenever he could.

Fortunately for them, they had not had to depend on Nirmal to find a boat. Someone had come to their rescue of his own accord. ‘Aré Mashima! You here?’ Before they could look around, a young man had come running up the embankment to touch Nilima’s feet.

‘Is it Horen?’ Nilima had said, squinting closely at his face. ‘Horen Naskor? Is it you?’

‘Yes, Mashima; it’s me.’ He was squat of build and heavily muscled, his face broad and flat, with eyes permanently narrowed against the sun. He was dressed in a threadbare lungi and a mud-stained vest.

‘And what are you doing in Canning, Horen?’ Nilima said.

‘Jongol korté geslam, I went to “do jungle” yesterday, Mashima,’ Horen replied, ‘and Bon Bibi granted me enough honey to fill two bottles. I came here to sell them.’

At this point Kanai had whispered into Nilima’s ear, ‘Who is Bon Bibi?’

‘The goddess of the forest,’ Nilima had whispered back. ‘In these parts, people believe she rules over all the animals of the jungle.’

‘O?’ Kanai had been astonished to think that a grown-up, a big strong man at that, could entertain such an idea. He had been unable to suppress the snort of laughter that rose to his lips.

‘Kanai!’ Nilima had been quick to scold. ‘Don’t act like you know everything. You’re not in Calcutta now.’

Kanai’s laugh had caught Horen’s attention too, and he had stooped to bring their faces level. ‘And who is this, Mashima?’

‘My nephew – my sister’s son,’ Nilima had explained. ‘He got into trouble in school so his parents sent him here – to teach him a lesson.’

‘You should send him over to me, Mashima,’ Horen had said with a smile. ‘I have three children of my own, and my oldest is not much smaller than him. I know what has to be done to teach a boy a lesson.’

‘Do you hear that, Kanai?’ Mashima had said. ‘That’s what I’ll do if there’s any nonsense from you – I’ll send you to live with Horen.’

This prospect had instantly sobered Kanai, removing the smile from his face. He had been greatly relieved when Horen had turned away from him to reach for Nilima’s luggage.

‘So, Mashima, are you waiting for a boat?’

‘Yes, Horen. We’ve been sitting here a long time.’

‘No more sitting, Mashima!’ Horen had said, hefting one of her bags on to his shoulders. ‘My own boat is here – I’ll take all of you home.’

Nilima had made a few unconvincing protests. ‘But it’s out of your way, Horen, isn’t it?’

‘Not far,’ Horen had said. ‘And you’ve done so much for Kusum. Why can’t I do this? You just wait here – I’ll bring the boat around.’

With that he had gone hurrying away, along the embankment. After he was out of earshot, Kanai had said to Nilima, ‘Who is that man? And what was he talking about? Who is Kusum?’

Horen was a fisherman, Nilima had explained, and he lived on an island called Satjelia, not far from Lusibari. He was younger than he looked, probably not yet twenty, but like many other tide country boys, he had been married off early – at the age of fourteen in his case. This was why he was already a father of three while still in his teens.

As for Kusum, she was a girl from his village, a fifteen-year-old, whom he had put into the care of the Women’s Union in Lusibari. Her father had died while foraging for firewood and her mother, without other means of support, had been forced to look for a job in the city. ‘It wasn’t safe for her on her own,’ Nilima had said. ‘All kinds of people tried to take advantage of her. Someone was even trying to sell her off. If Horen hadn’t rescued her who knows what might have happened?’

This had piqued Kanai’s interest. ‘Why?’ he had said. ‘What might have happened?’

Nilima’s eyes had grown sad, as they tended to do when she was reminded of those of the world’s ills she was powerless to remedy. ‘She might have been forced to lose her self-respect and honour; it happens often enough to poor girls who’re caught in that kind of situation.’

‘Oh?’ For all his precocity Kanai was unable to unravel the precise implications of Nilima’s euphemisms – yet he had understood enough of their meaning for his breath to quicken.

‘And where is this girl now?’ he had said.

‘In Lusibari,’ Nilima had replied. ‘You’ll meet her. Our Women’s Union is still looking after her.’

The conversation had ended, Kanai remembered, with his sprinting up the embankment to stand beside Nirmal. Kanai had scanned the river with eager eyes, looking for Horen’s boat. Till then the prospect of going to Lusibari had inspired nothing other than bored resentment, but the prospect of meeting this Kusum was something to look forward to.

The Launch

Deep in the interior of Canning’s bazaar Piya had come to a halt at the gates of the Forest Department’s offices. Because of the circumstances of her work she had, over the years, developed a reluctant familiarity with the officialdom of forests and fisheries. She had been expecting a grimy bureaucratic honeycomb and was taken aback to find herself looking at a small, brightly painted bungalow. Still, before stepping up to the entrance she steeled herself for what promised to be a very long day.

As it turned out, her experience was not quite as grim as she had anticipated. It did indeed take a full hour of waiting before she could even make her way past the first doorkeeper, but once she was inside her progress was unexpectedly swift. Thanks to her uncle’s influence, she was led almost immediately into the presence of a harried but obliging senior ranger. After a polite exchange she was handed over to a subordinate, who led her down a number of corridors, through cubicles of diminishing size. In between were long intervals of drinking tea, waiting, and staring at walls blotched with red paan-stains. But, apace or not, the paperwork did proceed and within a mere four hours of her entry into the building she was in possession of all the necessary documents.

It was only then, just as she was about to march out of the office, giddy with joy at her triumph, that she learnt that the procedures weren’t quite over yet – the last remaining requirement for her survey was that she be accompanied by a forest guard. Her face fell in dismay for she knew from previous experience that official escorts were always a hindrance and sometimes needed more attention than the survey itself; she would have far preferred to travel on her own, with only a boatman or pilot for company. But it was quickly made clear that this was not an option. In fact, a guard had already been assigned to her, a man who knew the route and would help with the hiring of a boat and all the other arrangements. She dropped the matter without further demur. It was good enough that she had got her papers so quickly – better not try her luck too far.

The guard, dressed in a starched khaki uniform, proved to be a small ferret-faced man. He greeted her with a deferential smile and his appearance provided no cause for misgiving – not until he produced a leather bandolier and a rifle. The sight of the weapons induced her to make her way back down the corridors to ask if the gun was really necessary. The answer was yes, it was; regulations required it because her route would take her through the tiger reserve. There was always the possibility of an attack.

There was nothing more to be said. Shouldering her backpacks, she followed the guard out of the bungalow.

They had not gone far before the guard’s demeanour began to change. Where he had been almost obsequious before, he now became quite officious, herding her ahead without any explanation of where they were going or why. In a short while she found herself at a teashop on the embankment, meeting with a man of vaguely thuggish appearance. The man’s name, so far as she could tell, was Mej-da: he was squat of build and there were many shiny chains and amulets hanging beneath his large, fleshy face. Neither he nor the guard spoke English but it was explained to her through intermediaries that Mej-da owned a launch that was available for hire: he was a seasoned guide who knew the area better than anyone else.

She asked to see the launch and was told that that would not be possible – it was anchored some distance away and they would have to take a boat to get to it. On inquiring about the price she was quoted a clearly excessive figure. She knew now that this was a set-up and she was being cheated. She made a desultory effort to find other boat-owners, but the sight of Mej-da and the guard scared them off. No one would approach her.

At this point she knew she was faced with a choice. She could either go back to lodge a complaint at the Forest Department’s office or agree to the proposed arrangement and get started on her survey. After having spent most of the day in that office, she could not bear to think of returning. She gave in and agreed to hire Mej-da’s launch.

On the way to the launch, remorse set in. Perhaps she was judging these men too harshly? Perhaps they really did possess great funds of local knowledge? In any event, there was no harm in seeing if they could be of help. In one of her backpacks she had a display card she had chosen especially for this survey. It pictured the two species of river dolphin known to inhabit these waters – the Gangetic dolphin and the Irrawaddy dolphin. The drawings were copied from a monograph that dated back to 1878. They were not the best or most lifelike pictures she had ever come across (she knew of innumerable more accurate or more realistic photographs and diagrams), but for some reason she’d always had good luck with these drawings: they seemed to make the animals more recognizable than other, more realistic representations.

In the past, on other rivers, display cards like these had sometimes been of great help in gathering information. When communication was possible, she would show them to fishermen and boatmen and ask questions about sightings, abundance, behaviour, seasonal distribution and so on. When there was no one to translate she would hold up the cards and wait for a response. This often worked; they would recognize the animal and point her to places where they were commonly seen. But as a rule only the most observant and experienced fishermen were able to make the connection between the pictures and the animals they represented. Relatively few had ever seen the whole, living creature, and their view of it was generally restricted to a momentary glimpse of a blowhole or a dorsal fin. This being so, it was not unusual for the cards to elicit unexpected reactions – but never before had this illustration provoked a response as strange as the one she got from Mej-da. First he turned the card around and looked at the picture upside down. Then, pointing to the illustration of the Gangetic dolphin he asked if it were a bird. She understood him because he used the English word: ‘Bird? Bird?’

Piya was so startled that she looked at the picture again, with fresh eyes, wondering what he might be thinking of. The mystery was resolved when he stabbed a finger at the animal’s long snout with its twin rows of needle-like teeth. Like an optical illusion, the picture seemed to change shape as she looked at it; she had the feeling that she was looking at it through his eyes. She understood how the mistake might be possible, given the animal’s plump, dove-like body and its spoon-shaped bill, not unlike a heron’s. And of course the Gangetic dolphin had no dorsal fin to speak of. But then the ludicrousness of the notion had hit her – the Gangetic dolphin a bird? She took the card back and put it away quickly, turning her face aside to hide her smile.

The smile lingered for the rest of the ride, vanishing only when her eyes alighted on Mej-da’s launch – it was a decrepit diesel steamer that had been adapted for the tourist trade, with rows of plastic chairs lined up behind the wheelhouse, under a soot-blackened awning. She would have liked a skiff or a light fibreglass shell, outfitted with an outboard motor. Experience had taught her that this was the kind of boat of greatest use in river surveys. She began to regret the impulse that had led her to agree to this arrangement, but now it was too late to turn back.

As she walked up the gangplank, the stench of diesel fuel struck her like a slap in the face. There were some half-dozen or so young helpers tinkering with the engine. When they started it up, the volume was deafening, even up on deck. Then, to her surprise, Mej-da ordered all the helpers to leave the launch. Evidently the crew was to consist of no one other than himself and the guard. Why just these two and no one else? There was something about this that was not quite right. She watched in concern as the boys filed off the launch and her misgivings only deepened when Mej-da proceeded to enact a curious little pantomime, as if to welcome her on to his vessel. It so happened that he was dressed exactly as she was, in blue pants and a white shirt. She hadn’t remarked on this herself, but the coincidence had evidently seized his interest. He made a series of gestures, pointing to himself and at her, providing a wordless inventory of the points of similarity in their appearance – their clothes, their skin colour, the dark tint of their eyes and the cut of their short, curly hair. But the performance ended with a gesture both puzzling and peculiarly obscene. Bursting into laughter, he gesticulated in the direction of his tongue and his crotch. She looked away quickly, frowning, puzzled as to the meaning of this bizarre coda. It was not till later that she realized that this pairing of the organs of language and sex was intended as a commentary on the twin mysteries of their difference.

The laughter that followed on this performance sharpened her doubts about this pair. It was not that she was unused to the company of watchers and minders. The year before, while surveying on the Irrawaddy, she had been forced – ‘advised’ was the government’s euphemism – to take on three extra men. They were identically dressed, the three men, in knit golf shirts and chequered sarongs, and they had all sported steel-rimmed aviator sunglasses. She had heard later that they were from military intelligence, government spies, but she had never felt any unease around them, nor any sense of personal threat. Besides, she had always felt herself to be protected by the sheer matter-of-factness of what she did: the long hours of standing in unsteady boats, under blazing skies, scanning the water’s surface with her binoculars, taking breaks only to fill in half-hourly data sheets. She had not realized then that on the Irrawaddy, as on the Mekong and the Mahakam, she had also been protected by her unmistakable foreignness. It was written all over her face, her black, close-cropped hair, the sun-darkened tint of her skin. It was ironic that here – in a place where she felt even more a stranger than elsewhere – her appearance had robbed her of that protection. Would these men have adopted the same attitude if she had been, say, a white European, or Japanese? She doubted it. Nor for that matter would they have dared to behave similarly with her Kolkata cousins, who wielded the insignia of their upper-middle-class upbringing like laser-guided weaponry. They would have known how to deploy those armaments against men like these and they would have called it ‘putting them in their place’. But as for herself, she had no more idea of what her own place was in the great scheme of things than she did of theirs – and it was exactly this, she knew, that had occasioned their behaviour.

Lusibari

The tide was running low when the Trust’s launch brought Kanai and Nilima to Lusibari and this seemed to augment the height of the tall embankment that ringed the island: from the water nothing could be seen of what lay on the far side. But on climbing the earthworks Kanai found himself looking down on Lusibari village and suddenly it was as if his memory had rolled out a map so that the whole island lay spread out before his eyes.

Lusibari was about two kilometres long from end to end, and was shaped somewhat like a conch shell. It was the most southerly of the inhabited islands of the tide country – in the fifty kilometres of mangrove that separated it from the open sea, there was no other settlement to be found. Although there were many other islands nearby, Lusibari was cut off from these by four encircling rivers. Of these rivers two were of medium size, while the third was so modest as almost to melt into the mud at low tide. But the pointed end of the island – the narrowest spiral of the conch – jutted into a river that was one of the mightiest in the tide country, the Raimangal.

Seen from Lusibari at high tide, the Raimangal did not look like a river at all: it looked more like a limb of the sea, a bay perhaps, or a very wide estuary. Five other channels flowed into the river here, forming an immense mohona. At low tide, the mouths of the other rivers were clearly visible in the distance – gigantic portals piercing the ring of green galleries that encircled the mohona. But Kanai knew that once the tide turned everything would disappear: the rising waters of the mohona would swallow up the jungle as well as the rivers and their openings. If it were not for the tips of a few kewra trees you would think you were gazing at a body of water that reached beyond the horizon. Depending on the level of the tide, he remembered, the view was either exhilarating or terrifying. At low tide, when the embankment, or bãdh, was riding high on the water, Lusibari looked like some gigantic earthen ark, floating serenely above its surroundings. Only at high tide was it evident that the interior of the island lay well below the level of the water. At such times the unsinkable ship of a few hours before took on the appearance of a flimsy saucer that could tip over at any moment and go circling down into the depths.

From the narrow end of the island a mudbank extended a long way into the water. This spit was like a terrestrial windsock, changing direction with the prevailing currents. But just as a windsock can generally be counted on to remain attached to its mast, the mudbank too was doggedly tenacious in keeping a hold upon the island. It formed a natural pier and that was where ferries and boats usually unloaded their passengers. There were no docks or jetties on Lusibari, for the currents and tides that flowed around it were too powerful to permit the construction of permanent structures.

The island’s main village – also known as Lusibari – was situated close to the base of the mudspit, in the lee of the embankment. A newcomer, looking down at Lusibari from the crest of the bãdh, would see a village that seemed at first glance no different from thousands of others in Bengal: a tightly packed settlement of palm-thatched huts and bamboo-walled stalls and shacks. But a closer examination would reveal a different and far from commonplace design.