Following Fish Travels around the Indian Coast

In a coastline as long and diverse as India's fish inhabit the heart of many worlds-food of course but also culture commerce sport history and society. Journeying along the edge of the peninsula Samanth Subramanian reports upon a kaleidoscope of extraordinary stories. In nine essays Following Fish conducts rich journalistic investigations among others of the famed fish treatment for asthmatics in Hyderabad of the preparation and the process of eating West Bengal's prized hilsa of the ancient art of building fishing boats in Gujarat of the fiery cuisine and the singular spirit of Kerala's toddy shops of the food and the lives of Mumbai's first peoples of the history of an old Catholic fishing community in Tamil Nadu of the hunt for the world's fastest fish near Goa. Throughout his travels Subramanian observes the cosmopolitanism and diverse influences absorbed by India's coastal cities the wthdrawing of traditional fishermen from their craft the corresponding growth of fishing as pure and voluminous commerce and the degradation of waters and beaches from over-fishing. Pulsating with pleasure adventure and discovery and tempered by nostalgia and loss Following Fish speaks as eloquently to the armchair traveller as to lovers of the sea and its lore.