EDITOR

ABSTRACT

PUNE RESEARCH WORLD 

AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES

( ISSN  2455 - 359X  ONLINE )  (JIF 3.63)

 VOLUME 9 , ISSUE - 3 (SEPT TO NOV 2024)

DR. CH. KRISHNA MURTHY

ABSTRACT

Amitav Ghosh, a famous Bengali writer and the winner of 54^th Jnanpith award, has many novels to his credit. His book Smoke and Ashes: A Writer’s Journey Through Opium’s Hidden Histories is a travelogue in which he traces out the spread of opium trade among the three important nations namely, China, India and Britain. In fact, it is a socio-historic novel. He delves deep into the transformative effect that the trade had produced in these three countries in particular and the whole world in general. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, India had witnessed the rampant growth of opium at various places within the country under colonial rule, and its lasting effects on the people. Now-a-days, human beings are facing potential threats from many quarters. Man and his craving for wealth is the biggest threat to the environment. It not only spoils nature but also corrupts himself to the core.  I have selected this prolific writer’s non-fiction out of concern for nature and human destiny.

Key Words: travelogue, delves deep, transformative effect, rampant growth, biggest threat, human destiny