White Elephant
1878, Madraspatnam, India: Aiden Byrne, an Irishman serving in the British Army, has done well for himself and risen through the ranks. While out riding near the shore one morning he sees an overseer from the nearby Ice House viciously beating two workers.
An American company owns the Ice House, importing massive thirty-ton blocks of ice from New England to India, to provide ice for the drinks of the British Raj. People toiling in the Ice House are of the lowest, “untouchable” caste and work in oppressive and dangerous conditions for a pittance. Aiden attempts to intervene in the beating and arrests the overseer, but the workers disappear, and the overseer is eventually released. Aiden then meets Kathavarayan, an educated doctor, also of the lowest caste.
Kathavarayan encourages Aiden to seek justice for the missing workers, and acts as a guide while Aiden journeys deep into the complexities of East Indian society, a society struggling in the relentless Great Deccan Famine in which millions have died. Shocked by what he sees, Aiden attempts to make authorities aware of the dire situation, while Kathavarayan seeks to instill within his countrymen a hope for better treatment.
Jeyamohan is an accomplished Tamil author of over twenty-seven novels, and White Elephant is only the second of his works to be translated into English. This is a deeply moving, multi-layered and nuanced story that deserves to be widely read and savored. Aiden’s journey into the complex soul of India and the British Raj makes for a compelling and moving literary experience—one that will transform and inform everyone who encounters this work. Recommended.
