Amitav Ghosh discusses his new novel Ghost-Eye amid culinary delights

Call it happenstance but the fact that this writerrsquos favourite protein fish is front and centre of Amitav Ghoshrsquos new novel GhostEye HarperCollins made us doubly eager to decode its historymeetsmystery storyline with the Jnanpith Award winner when we settled down to interview him at The Bombay Canteen TBC The Chilled Sea Bass Sev Puri arrives and captures his attention immediately Pictures are taken and the delicate fishsev treat is popped into the mouth ldquoItrsquos delicious what a wonderful contrast in textures Floyd Cardoz was a geniusrdquo as he pays tribute to TBCrsquos late founder With a fish dish to usher our meal we consider it auspicious to dive into the conversationExcerpts from the interviewWhat prompted you to look at reincarnation as the overarching theme in GhostEyeItrsquos a theme that has interested me for a long time Irsquove also addressed it reincarnation in a previous book The Calcutta Chromosome It profoundly intrigues me if it does occur and we know that it does it completely upends our normal view of the world It means that the material world is not all that there isLike most Bengalis Amitav Ghosh also loves ilish hilsa and rohu PicsWikipediaThe research is expansive spanning decades It hops from science to superstition to marine fauna and traditional practicesI always enjoy doing research and especially about strange things It was fun particularly researching fishFish mdash the soul of every Bengali meal is at the core of your storyLaughs Yes Irsquove always been a keen cook and a keen eater Food is an underexplored subject in literature If you think about it food is the primary medium through which we engage with our environment Itrsquos the most important thing in the world mdash itrsquos how we relate to other people other cultures and our culture In Bengal fish and food are the foundation of our culture Every Bengali starts their morning thinking about fishDid you get drawn into the world of subcultures riverine lore and Bengali mythologyChuckles Absolutely I love going down rabbit holesAnd did the same happen while developing Shomarsquos trajectoryVery much She is a distinctive Bengali type mdash women who get deeply engaged in a subjectDid her character challenge you the most as you took the story forward Or were there othersThatrsquos an interesting question Shoma was always the heart of the book But there is also Tipu who is quite the characterYoursquove described 1960s Calcutta as a vibrant canvas Why did you pick that period to set the beginnings of this bookI grew up in 1960s Calcutta it was a distinctive place like no other I wanted to write about it including the difficulties like the loadshedding laughs It was the only Indian city run by Communists for decades In the late 60s it was a city in a state of perpetual revolt mdash morchas marches bandhsAnd despite the turmoil what kept the city aliveThatrsquos a very good question Despite all of that Calcutta continued to produce amazing films mdash that was the high point of Bengali cinema There was so much talent I remember Tapan Sinharsquos works In fact Irsquod say not despite but because of it that cinema thrived It often happens that political difficulties make good cinema Look at Iranian cinema It really was an incredibly productive time culturally and intellectually Today Calcutta is more prosperous and betterrun but it is not a patch on that timeAmitav Ghosh clicks a photo of the Chilled Sea Bass Sev Puri served at the restaurant for his social media feedWater is a common backdrop in most of your novels What kind of influence does it have on your writingBengal is a land of rivers a land of waters and thatrsquos why we have all this fish laughs Water is very much tied to the landscape We also have a long tradition of river novels and I grew up reading many of those The most famous was Titas Ekti Nadir Naam written by a Dalit author called Advaita Malla Barman Such books have impacted my writing Pauses There are people who love mountains And I love the water Thatrsquos why I was in Goa for so long I will head there next weekAnother aspect that we love is how your storylines organically and almost lyrically shift from one era to another and then backIn a book itrsquos nice to have a contrast of textures times characters I like that It adds depth variety So Irsquove always enjoyed that processA straight narrative works well sometimes but there are other times when itrsquos interesting to have that contrastHow do you balance it all outWhile I am writing one chapter at the end I start feeling restless and I think letrsquos try something else laughsItrsquos fascinating for a reader when you ensure continuity despite jetting between timelinesGood question You have to take a lot of work and craft to link one segment with anotherThe ending is enthralling did you foresee the climaxEveryone who read it said the last chapter was riveting Itrsquos extremely hard to write endings This came straight into my head towards the second half of writing the book But there are clues throughout the storylineLooking back did the book take long to writeThe writing process was completely different from any other book It usually takes years I wrote it in nine10 months which is a record for me Compared to other books this felt like speed writinghellipAnd why do you think this happenedThis book wrote itself The subject has a lot to do with it I canrsquot explain it really It came to me in a certain way It was exciting I thoroughly enjoyed the processWe cannot let you go without discussing your favourite fishBengali fish is not available in New York The fish that I really like to cook there is pomfret which is also available in BengalPomfret is easy to prepare and delicious I buy my fish from the local Chinese marketsI love rohu And like most Bengalis I am also very fond of ilish hilsa I particularly like small fish including lotey maach which is our version of the Bombay Duck We make it in a different way like a mash Though I like the Goan preparation Itrsquos one of the things I really long forAll my favourite fish are in the book Overall I love small eels gojar maach I prefer to fry it where it can be eaten like a bar snack So there are no worries about getting the bones outThe sections in the book about eating thornybony fish are useful especially for nonBengalis like ushellipItrsquos an art It happens in your mouth so you really have to learn to navigate itAfter this thrilling book whatrsquos next from your deskItrsquos time to rest a bit Irsquove written so many books in the past decade Ek ke baad ek smileshellipAVAILABLE Leading bookstores and estores