: Flood of Fire , the last instalment of the famous Ibis trilogy by writer Amitav Ghosh was released in the city on Wednesday.
Speaking on his most noted works written over a period of 10 years, which have the ‘Opium Wars’ as their central theme, Mr. Ghosh said Indians have largely sidestepped their involvement in the historic wars in which they played a key role as foot soldiers of Imperial Britain. There’s a great deal of ignorance in India about the part played by Indian nationals in shaping the course of the wars, thereby also contributing to the contours of Chinese history in the 19th century.
It’s rather unfortunate that Indian textbooks, too, have tended to gloss over this historical event, he pointed out during a conversation with The Hindu earlier in the day. The Sino-Indian relationship, he observed, is multifaceted and complex which doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions. Such a relationship is natural given the fact that they share a long border which was drawn by an English man with a ‘thick pen’ over what was largely then uncharted territory. The relationship can only be managed, and in a way we are already doing it.
Despite differences, China is the largest trading partner of India. Areas of uncertainty between the two Asian giants need to be settled through dialogue, he said. At the book launch event at David Hall, critic C.S. Venkiteswaran had a discussion with Mr. Ghosh. The trilogy is published by Penguin Books.
