The Vermilion Boat

‘Sisi-Magar became my boat and straddled on its back I was transformed into a sea-god—one who defied the elements and to whom the wind and the waves paid homage. They no longer raved about death | but spoke of abundant life.’A young orphan leaves for Calcutta | full of hope | to attend university there. But | on reaching the city | he finds he has been betrayed and left penniless and homeless by Jogin-Da | the guardian whom he respected and blindly trusted. Even as he scours the streets of Calcutta for shelter and sustenance | the young man finds himself drawn to the city’s glorious past and repelled by the religious prejudices and narrowmindedness of its residents. At university | too | he comes into conflict with his peers who thoughtlessly ape Western culture and ignore the best parts of their own traditions. In a time of gathering disillusionment and disappointment | the young man finds a mentor in an ageing professor | Profulla Babu and love—of a sort—with his Latin tutor | Roma. He receives a chance at redemption | too | after he befriends Sisi-Magar | a tame porpoise in a temple pond | which he must set free in the Ganges.Published in 1953 and now being reissued for the first time in more than half a century | The Vermilion Boat is the third novel in Sudhin N. Ghose’s quartet which follows the life and career of an unnamed young man. As much a coming-of-age story as an account of the making of the great metropolis of Calcutta | The Vermilion Boat brings together history | legend and myth to create a rich | sprawling narrative.