User:Elletee33/I Have Become The Tide (Novel)

I Have Become The Tide is a novel written by Githa Hariharan. The novel, which draws inspiration from historical events, follows three main narratives that intertwine at different points in the novel. Critical of the caste system, the novel interrogates issues revolving around caste, with a particular focus on inequities faced by the Dalit communities.

Plot Summary
The novel weaves together three stories, each addressing issues of caste and social order in India Divided into ten sections, which each contain three chapters, the novel follows three distinct, yet interwoven narratives; that of Chittakiah and his son, the poet Kannadeva, professor P.S. Krishna, and the three students Asha, Ravi, and Satya.

The first narrative follows Chittakiah, a Dalit man who, after the death of his father, is brought to  Anandagrama, a village which does not abide by the caste system. There he meets Mahadevi and they have a son: Kannadeva. The parents choose to send Kannadeva to train at a Hindu temple, where he finds refuge from the eventual break out of war.

The second narrative follows professor P.S. Krishna and his research into the poet Kannadeva. Krisha receives threats from Hindu nationalists for his research which suggests that Kannadeva, a venerated Hindu figure, was born to a lower caste family. After uncovering palm leaf manuscripts, professor Krishna is able to prove his theory correct. His work on Kannadeva ultimately prompts his assassination by a Hindu organization that opposes his work.

The third narrative, which follows students: Asha, Ravi, and Satya, studying nursing, zoology, and medicine, respectively, outlines the character's experiences of caste oppression in college. While all three students experience struggle due to their status as Scheduled Caste, the novel follows the different ways they cope with the discrimination. Satya faces torment from his peers and his professor, Dr. Sharma, who causes Satya to lose his scholarship by falsely reporting poor attendance. Asha and Ravi navigate their place in college as Dalit students, using social media to oppose discriminatory behaviour and support one another.

Background Information
I Have Become The Tide, written by Githa Hariharan discusses the caste issues that are prevalent in post-independence India. Caste is not an Indian word, but is a Portuguese term, that connotes race or breed. Yet "popular understanding of caste in India is influenced by the way caste has been written in the West… because Brahmins tightly controlled the production of knowledge through most of India’s history, [and] there is little sociological examination of caste from pre-colonial times." Caste in India is known as verna, and divides the social structure into four distinctive classes known as, the Brahmins (the priestly castes), the Kshatriyas (the warrior/fighting caste), the Vaishyas (the business/trading castes), and the Shudras (the working class: artisans, agriculturists food gatherers, hunters, fisherfolk and the like). The Shudras are the lowest caste, known as untouchables. The untouchables are stripped of their basic human rights such as drinking water from local ponds and wells, walking on public roads, freedom to choose their occupation, and instead are forced to do jobs that include cleaning and dealing with refuse, toilets, and animal and human carcasses. The untouchables are considered impure and are required to sit outside the caste system, hence are considered the outcastes. Despite the legal act that passed in 1950 by the Indian Constitution to abolish untouchability, the government assigned untouchables as the STs (the Scheduled tribes) and SCs (the Scheduled class). In the book, Asha, Ravi, and Satya belong to the SCs. As Untouchables are poor, they were assigned a “fixed percentage of openings in government-based educational institutions and state employment only to disadvantaged groups" in hopes to better their living conditions. Regardless, untouchables still face restrictions in accessing their scholarships or being promoted over the upper-castes. After the Independence of India, Mahatma Gandhi wanted to appoint the name Harijan to the untouchables, which connotes people of God . In contrast, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, chose to address them as Dalits--a term the untouchable caste prefer to self-identify themselves as. The term Dalit came into being after young Marathi activists created a group called the Dalit Panthers. They wanted to show their support to the Black Panthers, who were engaged in their own fight for rights for the African Americans in the USA. Though both Gandhi and Ambedkar fought for untouchables' rights, they often had different views because Ambedkar belonged to the Mahar caste, another untouchable caste, while Gandhi belonged to the Vaishyas class. Therefore, Ambedkar argues that the "origin of untouchability lies buried in a dead past which nobody knows". Hence, the past can only be revived by him and other activists by criticizing how the "Indian government has always managed to successfully oppose the terming of caste-based discrimination as racism." In the present time, leading Indian newspapers describe the every day violence faced by untouchables such as: ""Dalit boy beaten to death for plucking flowers"; "Dalit tortured by cops for three days"; "Dalit 'witch' paraded naked in Bihar"; "Dalit killed in lock-up at Kurnool"; "7 Dalits burnt alive in caste clash"; "5 Dalits lynched in Haryana"; "Dalit woman gang-raped, paraded naked"; "Police egged on mob to lynch Dalits"". There has been a rise in Dalit activists who are bringing awareness to their struggles against the discrimination of caste inequality. Dalit activists, trade unions, and other NGOS want to "peacefully demand their rights, higher wages, and more equitable land distribution" and be considered part of the Indian landscape.

Themes
The novel uses three interwoven narratives that roughly correspond to three historical events: The suicide of Rohith Vemula, the controversial work and assassination of M.M Kalburgi, and the anti-Caste social reformation of the Bhakti Movement. Hariharan uses these events to offer a social critique of the current state of systemic oppression of the caste system, specifically focusing upon the Indian Dalit minority group. She regards the novel as giving a voice to those who struggles have been ignored, both historically and in the present day, as it was written "for all the Vemulas and Kalburgis we know and do not know" and believes "it is very much a novel for this present moment". It is within this that the novel questions how a privileged voice can authentically represent the historically oppressed and the need for an awareness of the privileged position when engaging with such issues. Through the extensive usage of devotional poetry through Dalit characters, Hariharan deterritorializes the common notion of poetry and devotion as an aesthetic mode belonging to the powerful, while removing the perception of the oppressed as 'passive'. These uplifting poetical scenes are juxtaposed against the violence and abuse the Dalit characters endure throughout the novel to demonstrates the need for hope and community that can be found within poetry, and act as a point of resistance against placid social acceptance.

Publication and Reception
Published on Feb. 5th, 2019 by Simon & Schuster India, I Have Become the Tide, is the latest book written by the renown Indian writer and scholar, Githa Hariharan. Although only been published recently, I Have Become the Tide was longlisted in the "Tata Literature Live!" award, under the "Book of the Year Award—Fiction" category in November 2019. Moreover, on Sept. 16, 2019, invited by the Program in English and Creative Writing, Githa Hariharan held a reading series at Ashoka University to share and discuss her novel with readers and students.

After the publication of this book, it quickly attracts critics' attention. One article published in April 2019 by Hindustan Times first criticizes this novel. Although writer Saudamini Jain, in this article, acknowledges the part that depicts "three best friends who face casteism on campus" as "the most promising section", at the end of this article, she comments that this novel is"not a political act", but "a do-gooder novel that does no good", for the author "demurs from inhabiting her characters" and a direct understanding of those characters, according to Jain, is not expressed. Nevertheless, despite this problem described by her, Jain still praises that the third part of the novel is quite "educational", for it is "a throwback in time that breaks down the continuity of India's most vicious social institution".

Moreover, as a matter of fact, most reviews are still positive, and in general, they all argue that Hariharan has successfully and vividly documented the social problems faced by India. For instance, as critic Soni Wadhwa commented in her book review, I Have Become the Tide is "a compassionate portrayal" of the "connection between the goal of respect and the countless massacres…that continues till date". Dr. Ragini Mohite also argues in her Hong Kong Review Of Books article that the core of the novel is "the powerful witnessing of Dalit experiences”and the "striking portrayals of community and solidarity" . The depiction of "this fairly recent phenomenon of casteism's changing nature", like author Fathima M argues in the article "The inheritance of caste indignities", demonstrates how "rather than marching forward, India is today going backwards, with the current nationalist government suppressing dissent and freedom of expression." In addition, in a World Literature Today review, the author praises the novel "shines a light from three thousand feet above the human condition", for it "evokes tears" and "reminds the world that caste exists, despite many of her compatriots' arguments to the contrary." Hence, in general, most critics still believe that this book is an insightful and powerful work that vividly demonstrates contemporary Hindu social problems and inequities.