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The Calcutta Chromosome
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The Calcutta Chromosome (1995) (edit title/settings)

A Novel of Fevers, Delirium & Discovery

by Amitav Ghosh (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

From Victorian lndia to near-future New York, The Calcutta Chromosome takes readers on a wondrous journey through time as a computer programmer trapped in a mind-numbing job hits upon a curious item that will forever change his life. When Antar discovers the battered I.D. card of a long-lost... read more

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Summary edit see section history

The novel begins with the story of Antar, an employee of the LifeWatch organization, who recounts an encounter with L. Murugan, an employee of LifeWatch who has disappeared in Calcutta. The plot is quite complicated and its timelines are deliberately mixed up. Antar starts to track Murugan’s... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

The novel begins with the story of Antar, an employee of the LifeWatch organization, who recounts an encounter with L. Murugan, an employee of LifeWatch who has disappeared in Calcutta. The plot is quite complicated and its timelines are deliberately mixed up. Antar starts to track Murugan’s disappearance in Calcutta many years back. Murugan has asked to be transferred to Calcutta because of his fascination with the life of Sir Ronald Ross. The Calcutta of Ronald Ross is well separated in time from the Calcutta that Murugan visits, but the New York of Antar and the Calcutta of Murugan seem to overlap in time, though it is clearly stated in the novel that they are separated by many years. Through his research into old and lost documents and phone messages, Antar figures out that Murugan had systematically unearthed an underground scientific/mystical movement that could grant eternal life. Loosely described, the process is as follows: the disciples of this movement can transfer their chromosomes into another, and gradually become that person or take over that person. In the novel, Ronald Ross did not discover the mysteries of the malaria parasite; it was a group of underground practitioners of a different, mystical "science," natives of India, who helped to guide Ross to the conclusions for which he is famous. These Indians provided Ross with clues in the belief that in the moment Ross made his discovery, the parasite would change its nature. At this point, a new variant of malaria would emerge and the group's research using the chromosome-transfer technique would advance even further.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Murugan: He calls himself Morgan. He lives in the nineties and is an authority on Sir Ronald Ross. Much of the novel is about his tracking the life of Ronald Ross.
  • Antar: A man in the future who is about to retire. He is tracking Murugan.
  • Sonali Das: A writer, a journalist, and actor who, it is suggested in the novel, transforms herself with the help of Mangala's "science"
  • Elijah Farley: Add a description of this character.
  • Phulboni
  • Ronnie Ross
  • D. D. Cunningham
  • Lutchman: He once lived at Renupur station. His family and whole village had been wiped out by a strange epidemic. He was later picked up by Ross for his experiments and did everything for him. He claimed he was a 'dhooley bearer' or a cleaner. Later in the novel it is revealed that his name was actually 'Laakhan' and he changed his name at every village to sound like a local.
  • Mrs Aratounian
  • Ronald Ross: the Nobel prize winning scientist who found out that malaria is spread through mosquitoes. Much of his research is spoken about. He conducted his experiments on a man called 'Lutchman.' His tale is narrated by Murugan.
  • Grigson
  • Tara
  • Ava
  • Romen Haldar: Lutchman in his most recent reincarnation
  • Mangala: Cleaning woman at Doctor Cunningham's Laboratory, but that's her disguise, she is in reality a Demi God who not only discovered the means of treating syphilis with the Malaria parasite but also found a form of asexual reproduction/reincarnation for humans which kept her and Lutchman alive forever.
  • Mme Salminen
  • Abdul Kadir
  • Mumgan
  • Laveran
  • Doc Manson
  • Antal
  • Maria
  • Dutton
  • Rabindra Sadan
  • Mr Morgan
  • Opie
  • Budhhu Dubey: Renupur's railway station's railway master
  • Mac Callum
  • Pongracz
  • Mr Dunn
  • Urmila: A journalist for the same publication as Sonali, she is the one Mangala chooses for her transformation or reincarnation.
Show all 31 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Julius Wagner-Jauregg a nobel laureate born in Austria was a psychologist. He discovered that artificially induced malaria could cure syphilis- at least in the dementia paralytica stage when it attacks the brain. This discovery got him nobel prize in 1927. Artificially induced malaria was the standard treatment for syphilitic paresis untill1940s. Fact is, malaria does stuff to the brain that we're still just guessing at.”
  • “Remember that one of the extraordinary things about the malaria bug is that it has the capacity to 'cut and paste' its DNA - unlike any creature we know of except the trypanosome. Remember that's one of the reasons why its been so hard to develop a malaria vaccine. Because what's special about the malaria bug is that as it goes through its life cycle it keeps altering its coat-proteins. So by the time the body's immune system learns to recognise the threat, the bug's already had time to do a little costume change before the next act.”
  • “If it's true that to know something is to change it, then it follows that one way of changing something - of effecting a mutation, let's say - is to attempt to know it, or aspects of it.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

  • Calcutta
  • India
  • Secunderabad: Secunderabad popularly known as the twin city of Hyderabad is located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh north of Hyderabad. Named after Sikandar Jah, the third Nizam of the Asaf Jahi dynasty, Secunderabad was founded in 1806 AD as a British cantonment. Although Hyderabad and Secunderabad are together referred to as the twin cities, they have both different histories and cultures, with Secunderabad having developed directly under British rule until 1948 and Hyderabad as the capital of the Nizams' princely state. Although geographically separated from Hyderabad by the Hussain Sagar, Secunderabad is no longer a separate municipal unit and has become part of Hyderabad. Both cities are collectively known just as Hyderabad outside the state and they together form the sixth largest metropolis in India. Being one of the largest cantonments in India, Secunderabad has a large army and air force presence
  • Renupur
  • Madras
  • Egypt
  • Begumpet
  • England
  • Baltimore
  • Robinson Street
  • Delhi
  • France
  • Darbhanga: Darbhangā is a twin city and a municipal corporation and the capital city of the Darbhanga district and Darbhanga Division in the state of Bihar, India. It is one of the important districts of North Bihar situated in the very heart of Mithilanchal. According to the latest 2011 census the total population of the district is 3,921,971 of which about 91.30% live in rural areas. Schedule cast population is 511,125 and that of Schedule tribe is only 841 and they together accounted for 15.53% of the total population. The total male population is 2,053,043 and female population 1,868,928. Population density is as high as 1,721 per sq. km and the sex ratio is 910.
  • Austria
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First Sentence edit see section history

If the system hadn't stalled Antar would never have guessed that the scrap of paper on his screen was the remnant of an ID card.

Glossary edit see section history

  • Amniotic embolism: it is a condition in which the plascental fluid (the fluid surrounding the foetus before birth) clogs the artery.
  • capricious: prone to sudden change of mood or behavior
  • aquiline: curved like eagle's beak
  • chrysanthemums: it is a large garden flower with many long, thin petals
  • perfunctory: carried out with minimum of effort or thought
  • seance: meeting at which people attempt to make contact with the dead
  • Creosote: a dark brown oil obtained from coal tar, used as wooden presevative

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Amitav Ghosh (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Picador
Country: India
Publication Date: 1995
ISBN: Add the ISBN.
Page Count: 309

Classification edit see section history

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • English August

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