Alam Baidya

The Calcutta Chromosome is a 1995 novel by Amitav Ghosh, one of the best English writer of Indian diaspora. This novel is Ghosh trying his hand in science fiction thriller. To be fair it did win him the prestigious Arthur C Clarke award. But as a reader I was rather disappointed as this book does not even come close to being either the best of that genre or the best Ghosh has offered since. To its credit the plot is rather fast paced and intriguing jumping multiple times across three different timelines of past, present and future. However, the future with its technological advancements as envisaged by Ghosh back in 1995 seems rather disappointing when user reads about it in 2019. The conspiracy theory about Ronald Ross's research has never lived up to the billing and the introduction of a ghost train and similar fantastic ideas are big letdowns. Overall, The Calcutta Chromosome did not meet my expectation of reading an Amitav Ghosh work so soon after disembarking from the Ibis.