Sea of Poppies

Amitav Ghosh's book by this title was my latest escapade into the imaginary world of books. This was an awesome page-turner set in the 1830s in a colonial India.
Deeti, kabuthri-ki-ma is a regular peasant woman, growing poppies on her field - primarily out of compulsion by the East India company. The company wants to make money by selling opium in China, exported from the fields and factories in India. It describes a time when the 'weed' was taking over the vast agricultural expanses of eastern India fed by the Ganga - to satisfy the greed of the company. Her husband, an afeemkhor or an opium addict dies after an accident in the opium factory. Kalua is the ox-cart driver of lower caste, whose destiny is, to rescue Deeti from a sati she was going to jump into to escape life in the protection of a perverted brother-in-law.
Zachary Reid, is a mulatto, freeman, who becomes second mate on ship from a carpenter, due to a twist of fate in which all the seniors on the ship have died due to disease. He has shown a lot of promise and the Raj has rewarded him by making him the second mate of the Ibis. The Ibis is a central character in the story - it's a former slave ship from America that is now being put to use to transport Girmitiyas or indentured labourers.
Paulette Lambert(or Putli), a french girl living in Calcutta, daughter of a botanist that worked in the Botanical gardens in Calcutta, and having been brought up by a local maid, feels more Bengali than European. As a consequence of living with her benefactor, Mr Burnham or Burra Sahib, must get on the ship to escape the torments of the lady like mannerisms being imposed on her; and more because she wants to escape from her new life in Calcutta. She wants to go to Mauritius too, where the Ibis was going to be heading.
The story has some other interesting characters - Jodu, Putli's brother by virtue of being brought up the same mother, Neel Rattan Halder, the zemindar of Raskhali, Ah-Fatt the half Chinese, half Parsi afeemkhor, and the most interesting one being Baboo Nob Kissin :)).
The novel gives a good insight into the personal lives of several Girmitiyas - giving us a peak into the migration of Indian labourers into Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Malaysia and scores of other countries with an Indian diaspora. It also tells a tale of colonialism, on the business acumen of the English, and their justification of the opium wars, which in a satirical manner is portrayed as being the protection of free trade, even if it meant death, destruction and addiction of the Chinese populations!
The language used in the book is an eclectic mix of English, Hindusthani and Bengali. Sentences like "Do a dekho of me" are common. Also, several nuances of Indian English are exploited to give it a humorous quote as well. The sailor speak of Serang Ali, is cute and funny. The Malay-English-Hindi mix comes out very funny and kudos to the author for getting such humour into a well researched, semi-historical account of several lives thrown in together by destiny.
Overall, an enjoyable page-turner and entertainment to the core. It transports the reader to a bygone era very effectively.