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I Have Become the Tide
Where is that land where water flows free?
A powerful, beautifully imagined novel from Githa Hariharan asks when the tide will turn to make this dream real.
Hundreds of years ago, Chikka, son of a cattle skinner, finds a home in Anandagrama, among people who believe everyone is equal; people whose prayer is inseparable from song and work, the river and the land, friendship and love. Chikka becomes Chikkiah the washerman who sings by his beloved river. But the Anandagrama movement against caste is torn apart, and its men and women slaughtered or forced to flee.
In the present day, Professor Krishna makes a discovery. The saint-singer Kannadeva is none other than the son of Chikkiah. The poets and fighters of Anandagrama have been forgotten; Kannadeva has been whitewashed into a casteless ‘Hindu saint’. Professor Krishna reconstructs many lives of resistance from his findings in a palm-leaf manuscript. But will the bigots, armed with bullets, bombs and hit-lists, let scholars and poets do what they must?
Three Dalit students—Asha, Ravi and Satya—dream of a future that will let them and their families live with dignity, just like everyone else. From Chikkiah’s story to theirs, a few things may have changed, but too much has remained the same.
Three distinctive narratives intertwine past and present in compelling ways to raise an urgent voice against the cruelties of caste, and the destructive forces that crush dissent. But they also celebrate the joy of resistance, the redemptive beauty of words, and the courage to be found in friendship and love. I Have Become the Tide is deeply political, but it never loses sight of humour, tenderness—or the human spirit.
A powerful, beautifully imagined novel from Githa Hariharan asks when the tide will turn to make this dream real.
Hundreds of years ago, Chikka, son of a cattle skinner, finds a home in Anandagrama, among people who believe everyone is equal; people whose prayer is inseparable from song and work, the river and the land, friendship and love. Chikka becomes Chikkiah the washerman who sings by his beloved river. But the Anandagrama movement against caste is torn apart, and its men and women slaughtered or forced to flee.
In the present day, Professor Krishna makes a discovery. The saint-singer Kannadeva is none other than the son of Chikkiah. The poets and fighters of Anandagrama have been forgotten; Kannadeva has been whitewashed into a casteless ‘Hindu saint’. Professor Krishna reconstructs many lives of resistance from his findings in a palm-leaf manuscript. But will the bigots, armed with bullets, bombs and hit-lists, let scholars and poets do what they must?
Three Dalit students—Asha, Ravi and Satya—dream of a future that will let them and their families live with dignity, just like everyone else. From Chikkiah’s story to theirs, a few things may have changed, but too much has remained the same.
Three distinctive narratives intertwine past and present in compelling ways to raise an urgent voice against the cruelties of caste, and the destructive forces that crush dissent. But they also celebrate the joy of resistance, the redemptive beauty of words, and the courage to be found in friendship and love. I Have Become the Tide is deeply political, but it never loses sight of humour, tenderness—or the human spirit.
- GenresIndia
336 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2019
10 people are currently reading
122 people want to read
About the author
Githa Hariharan
22 books20 followersHariharan was born in Coimbatore and grew up in Bombay and Manila. She obtained a BA (in English) from Bombay University and a MA (in Communications) from Fairfield University (U.S.A.).
Hariharan first worked in the Public Broadcasting System in New York and then with a publishing firm as an editor in India. She currently works as a freelance editor.
In her personal life, she, along with her husband, won the right to have the children named after her (instead of carrying the father's name); in this famous case argued by Indira Jaising, the Supreme Court agreed that the mother was also a "natural guardian" of the child.Template:AIR 1999, 2. SCC 228
Hariharan first worked in the Public Broadcasting System in New York and then with a publishing firm as an editor in India. She currently works as a freelance editor.
In her personal life, she, along with her husband, won the right to have the children named after her (instead of carrying the father's name); in this famous case argued by Indira Jaising, the Supreme Court agreed that the mother was also a "natural guardian" of the child.Template:AIR 1999, 2. SCC 228
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 1, 2021
"I dreamt of facing the rising sun,
Lighting a fire under on myself to the core.
Like one of those giggling loons,
I wished to run on to the fields;
Carefree, like the soul-stirring zephyr.
Little did a few things,
I craved for bringing off,
But in this birth,
I ended up being in four by four mud-clad surface.
The knocking of that hearkens,
To the leftovers becoming my mate.
Should, I consider it as my birth fate?
No one ever knew my name,
But the neck of the woods, I rapport in, is chewed over as an odium.
I see those sahibs and noblesse,
Pootling down the streets;
Humans hunker downing them.
But, when it comes to presence of mine,
These humans muck about me as some dross.
Roving around, I summon the nature,
For how many shed load days, will this torment engulf me?
The wind blows and gives me an affirmation,
That someday my people would fly high breaking the cage, the shackles- they were bounded within.
But…
To my fate!
Opening my eyes, I beam envisaging;
What a dream I had!
But, what if this dream of mine turns out to be true?
By the end of the day,
Would I still remain an 'untouchable'?" -Aditi Debnath.
'I Have Become The Tide', is a novel surrounding two generations and many lives- some fought for their rights and some screamed the truth of the society. Throughout this novel Hariharan, riddles the readers with a question, 'Where is the river, where the water flowed free?'. But did the water ever flow free for the untouchables?
Thousands of years ago Chikka, the son of a cattle skinner and an untouchable by birth wasn't accepted in his village, so he found solace in Anandagrama where people are free, and caste hierarchy isn't followed. In the present time, we have Profesor Krishna, who avouches that the saint singer Kannadeva, was not a Hindu and was an untouchable by birth. This proclamation of Professor Krishna's enrages some orthodox people. Then we have three aspiring students- Asha, Ravi, and Satya battling to fit in with college life. They are being denigrated for being a Dalit.
Like a free flowing river, this novel flows with a smooth intensity, portraying the caste injustices happening since ancient times to the current times. I won't say that, this novel will amaze you to the core. It's simple, beaut, and details the social norms. Overall, a highly recommended read!
Lighting a fire under on myself to the core.
Like one of those giggling loons,
I wished to run on to the fields;
Carefree, like the soul-stirring zephyr.
Little did a few things,
I craved for bringing off,
But in this birth,
I ended up being in four by four mud-clad surface.
The knocking of that hearkens,
To the leftovers becoming my mate.
Should, I consider it as my birth fate?
No one ever knew my name,
But the neck of the woods, I rapport in, is chewed over as an odium.
I see those sahibs and noblesse,
Pootling down the streets;
Humans hunker downing them.
But, when it comes to presence of mine,
These humans muck about me as some dross.
Roving around, I summon the nature,
For how many shed load days, will this torment engulf me?
The wind blows and gives me an affirmation,
That someday my people would fly high breaking the cage, the shackles- they were bounded within.
But…
To my fate!
Opening my eyes, I beam envisaging;
What a dream I had!
But, what if this dream of mine turns out to be true?
By the end of the day,
Would I still remain an 'untouchable'?" -Aditi Debnath.
'I Have Become The Tide', is a novel surrounding two generations and many lives- some fought for their rights and some screamed the truth of the society. Throughout this novel Hariharan, riddles the readers with a question, 'Where is the river, where the water flowed free?'. But did the water ever flow free for the untouchables?
Thousands of years ago Chikka, the son of a cattle skinner and an untouchable by birth wasn't accepted in his village, so he found solace in Anandagrama where people are free, and caste hierarchy isn't followed. In the present time, we have Profesor Krishna, who avouches that the saint singer Kannadeva, was not a Hindu and was an untouchable by birth. This proclamation of Professor Krishna's enrages some orthodox people. Then we have three aspiring students- Asha, Ravi, and Satya battling to fit in with college life. They are being denigrated for being a Dalit.
Like a free flowing river, this novel flows with a smooth intensity, portraying the caste injustices happening since ancient times to the current times. I won't say that, this novel will amaze you to the core. It's simple, beaut, and details the social norms. Overall, a highly recommended read!
September 20, 2019
This is an important book which has immense contemporary relevance. Three seemingly disparate strands are knit together seamlessly to make for a powerful narrative that cries out shrilly against caste discrimination, deep-rooted prejudice, wide inequalities and injustice. The novel begins with the imagined story dating back centuries - the story of Chikka, a cattle-skinner's son, who finds shelter in the caste-less society of Anandagrama village for some time before the idealized movement is inexorably crushed. But the movement lives on through Chikka's poet son Kannadeva and his songs of resistance and freedom from discrimination. The second thread is Krishna whose historical, literary research leads him to unravel the truth about Chikka through his readings from palm-leaf manuscripts. Krishna's pronouncements outrage Hindu nationalist bigots who wish to paint Kannadeva as a spiritual saint. The final strand is the story of three Dalit students who step out to lead lives of dignity but only face unending discrimination. In the latter two strands the author freely draws upon the news stories of the recent past - the tragic suicide of Rohith Velmula and Kalburgi's murder. Through the intermingling of these heart-rending strands Githa Hariharan sends a brave message of love, hope and resistance against oppression. Written in unpretentious and lyrical prose, this is a courageous work of fiction that is deeply empathetic to the cause of the oppressed and is a severe indictment of bigotry and regressive forces who wish to crush dissent and deny those who dare dream of equality and dignity.
September 11, 2021
“Untouchability is a sin. Untouchability is a crime. Untouchability is inhuman. It’s a sin – for those who believe in that kind of thing , those who live by religion. It’s a crime for those who want to keep on the right side of the law. And inhuman – whose heart does that appeal to?”
✨
I have become the tide is clearly a story about casteism and untouchability and how it has not changed much in the last so many years.
The story has different parts being told for three different generations.
✨
The story did not really catch my attention but it surely had a really deep moral and effect. It is heartbreaking to see that till now a lot of people believe and practise caste system. They behave so poorly with the lower caste . I mean what’s the point really? You’re have gonna have the same death as the people of lower caste , so why live differently? If God is seeing his deciples as ONE then who are you to differentiate?
I just wanna say if any of my followers believe in caste system or untouchability I’m not sorry for the things I wrote and I’d like to end my review with a qoute I like from the book.
✨
“It’s best not to ask any more questions . It’s best not to make too much of the magic Putanna is talking of, the miracle no one has ever seen : people coming together as if caste does not matter, as if anyone can be anyone else’s neighbour or friend or sister or brother…”
✨
I have become the tide is clearly a story about casteism and untouchability and how it has not changed much in the last so many years.
The story has different parts being told for three different generations.
✨
The story did not really catch my attention but it surely had a really deep moral and effect. It is heartbreaking to see that till now a lot of people believe and practise caste system. They behave so poorly with the lower caste . I mean what’s the point really? You’re have gonna have the same death as the people of lower caste , so why live differently? If God is seeing his deciples as ONE then who are you to differentiate?
I just wanna say if any of my followers believe in caste system or untouchability I’m not sorry for the things I wrote and I’d like to end my review with a qoute I like from the book.
✨
“It’s best not to ask any more questions . It’s best not to make too much of the magic Putanna is talking of, the miracle no one has ever seen : people coming together as if caste does not matter, as if anyone can be anyone else’s neighbour or friend or sister or brother…”
May 16, 2020
Superb and very moving.
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July 12, 2020See my review at https://hkrbooks.com/2019/05/21/i-hav...
August 9, 2020
If, like me, you've never read a novel that stared down the caste system in India, I'd recommend this one. It has anger and hope at its core, and a river of history runs through it.
June 20, 2019
I've never read a novel before in which every word was imbued with love. Hariharan portrays three sets of characters in three different contexts through the lens of caste. And she paints their stories with such love and affection that the reader cannot but help to read with those feelings at the center of her experience. There are stories here that resonate with recent media headlines about caste, but that is really a minor part of the book. It is the journey that these characters take and the obstacles they must confront as a result of casteism that is most important. And the way Hariharan tells these stories demands the reader's deep empathy. A truly remarkable novel.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews