Opium Inc

During the lockdown of 2020 two good things happened to me. A. I read a lot of books in the silence of Calcutta. B. I did a lot of exercise and brought my HbA1C under strict control. The frenzy of reading ebbed a little with the lifting of lockdown. 2021 was not as productive in terms of reading speed. I barely finished a few financial books related to the stock market. Towards the end of 2021 I bought a book to learn about a subject that I had heard about vaguely but knew nothing much about. So out of a curiosity to learn about the trade and the wars that went with it I bought the book Opium Inc. It is a strictly non-fiction book on the international trade on opium and I did not make much progress in the immediate aftermath of the purchase. 

I finally managed to finish it a couple of days ago. This was achieved in a few sittings, mainly in the flight to and from Bangalore where I went to attend a battery exhibition. Although it has a very Roman Catholic name for an author, Thomas Manuel, he is very much Indian. Perhaps a Keralite or Goan. It's not important (though some people have an aversion towards Indian authors writing in English). The book is thoroughly researched and well written in a William Dalrymple style of (hi)story telling. 

The author digresses a lot from the main subject with interesting tid bits of information here and there but that's fine. They often add colour to the main story. The last few chapters, the ones that were added after his story of the British trade in opium ends, seem like an afterthought. As if he had to include them to add heft to the book and achieve a certain target in terms of number of pages. There is a chapter on opium in English literature also, where the author seems aloof and distant. History of literature is clearly not his forte.

But the main subject of opium trade in the far east is very well treated. The story does not have linear progression everywhere. It often goes back and forth but that's fine. I enjoyed the book and I am going to keep it for future reference. 

The book also has copious citations which can be useful if one attempts to research on the subject.

There is no mention of British institutions that are still active and apparently played a role in the opium trade. For example, I would be curious to know the role of HSBC in this trade. While the opium wars ended in 1840s, HSBC was set up in 1865 in Hong Kong. Obviously they benefited from the triangular trade in tea, silver and opium but there is no mention of it. 

What the book has done is rekindle my interest in reading. After this I pulled out the autobiography of Verrier Elwin last night and started reading it. I loved the writing style so much that I read up more than 30 pages or so in the first evening itself while Djokovic played his first Wimbeldon match of 22 in silent mode. 

The gentleman was a self taught anthropologist who came and settled in India and became an Indian citizen. He was born in Kent and educated at Oxford. He has done seminal work with the tribals of central India and North East.

This book is part of a fat book that contains three autobiographical books together. One is Jim Corbett's My India (not an autobiography but a collection of short real stories from his life), the second is Salim Ali's Fall of a Sparrow and the third is this. It is curated by Ramchandra Guha. 

I have read My India quite a few times. I could not finish Fall of a Sparrow because of the copious details on hunting and shooting and killing of birds - though Salim Ali is remembered as a conservationist and ornithologist. There is even a chapter on his rifle collection and which one is suitable for what type of game etc. If I remember correctly that is when I stopped reading the book. 

I have also avoided reading Corbett's hunting stories though to him hunting meant killing man eaters and he was revered in the mountains for this.

Once I finish this Elwin book I shall write a piece on the experience. It's more than 300 pages though.