What lurks in The Lowland

In the novel, The Lowland, runoff water and debris rush into a physical low-point near Calcutta and then settles leaving a marshy mess. The central characters experience a similar reservoir of experience that rots and festers when it remains unexamined and therefore undisturbed for decades. The story takes place in the late 1960s until the present in India and in the U.S. During the early period of the story, India, like most of the world, experienced revolutionary political ideologies. Around Calcutta, Naxalites preached a violent overthrow of the status quo and influenced the college-aged characters.

 

In many ways the story in the novel could have been what happens to 1960s-era weathermen who grow old hiding their past. But the characters are Bengali intellectuals, mild mannered and not given to expressing themselves (or even communicating much).

 

I was in college in the late 1960s and was exposed to the political and social movements of the day (in the U.S. this also included the anti-war movement). I also befriended many Indian graduate students at my university. Then, I traveled in India, even crossing paths with Naxalites near Calcutta. Maybe I have more knowledge than most about the story’s basis in fact, but I enjoyed the book. True, a few of the characters were frustratingly passive. I’m reminded of Bengali films of that era where main characters suffered greatly where an American would have simply spoken up, demanding change of some kind. But even without personal insights into the story, it’s a compelling read.