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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.