Book Review: The Calcutta Chromosome By Amitav Ghosh

The Calcutta Chromosome is an amalgamation of science fiction and post-colonialism, and probably many more. The book renders a non-linear narrative to develop the plot through three parallel timelines in unearthing the history of the discovery of Malaria parasite. Fantasy blends with the historical facts and a fiction is born to speculate on what caused the Malaria discovery.

In this book, the author resurrects the cult of Bengali folklore and constructs a scientific narrative behind the cult while at the same time exploring an obscured stream of eastern spiritualism founded upon silence as the way to be. The book delves into the conflicting worlds of materialistic empiricism and the world of transcendentalism and reminds us that not every story of discovery is a linear path of enlightenment. That there may be parallel yet convoluted paths of discovery that may not resemble a clear-cut scientific objective.

Throughout the book we constantly see a dichotomy of communication and silence, exploration and concealment as the characters gradually try to piece together the jigsaw, until in the end, when they realize that they themselves are the pieces of the puzzle and their realizations, following a silent law: “to know is to change” set in motion a mutation in the puzzle. The story doesn’t end with a clear explanation because there isn’t one… because, the story doesn’t end there... only the narrative does…