For me the challenge of making a few little things a little better in one small place is enough. She tells her Nirmal, whom she senses is involved in some sort of an uprising, “ I am not capable of dealing with the whole world’s problems. She is a hardworking woman who has established a hospital in Lusibari that turns into a shelter during the cyclone, being the only concrete structure on the island. As a reader, Fokir aptly tears down our prejudices and false pride in acquired intelligence, compared to the rich knowledge base of the locals/ native. This illiterate fisherman reveals himself in the course of the narrative, as the man with immense knowledge on the Oracella, the specie Piya is studying. The emaciated, dark, brooding man with his young son and an American born Indian woman in a boat, their communication (or lack of it), the ordeal, and the emotional bond is the highlight of this book. From here, begins the unusual relationship between her and Fokir, the fisherman in a small boat who saves her. There is an unfortunate tiff between her and the officials, and she falls into the rough waters. She has made arrangements with the local forest officials, who in the least care about Piya’s work and are of very little help to her. Piya, on the other hand, is on her expedition of surveying dolphins. Nirmal’s death, about twenty years ago, and now this packet is a disturbing and intriguing element in the story – the reference to Morichijhapi uprising in the islands.

Kanai is set to meet with Nilima, his aunt in Lusibari (one of the islands in Sundarbans), who wants to hand over a packet from her late husband, Nirmal for Kanai. The story begins with the journey of its two protagonists – Kanai, a translator from Delhi and Piya, a young Cetologist (a biologist who specializes in marine animal) from America.

The hungry tide published