1.

write about the co-relation between past and the present in

Amitav Ghosh's “In an antique land.” (Exploring the past,
two characters in the past, their relevance in the present,
past customs, rituals stories, ancestral beliefs and how they
affected the present.)

In an Antique land by Amitav Ghosh is half narrative and half the

study of small town in Egypt. In this novel the author depicts the
culture of Egyptians and Indians. He explains how India is
stronger than Egypt in terms of economy, infrastructure, military
etc. The author as a single person in Egypt defends India by
arguing that his country is culturally rich than Egypt.
Ghosh searches about the history of a Jewish trader Abraham
Ben Yiju and his South Asian origin slave Bomma. At present,
the narrator spent his time in Egypt as a student studying the
lost city of Alexandria. This book examines the author’s own
heritage and experience beside the culture of Egypt. Narrator
says that Ben Yiju and his friends were all orthodox, observant
Jews, strongly aware of their distinctive religious identity but
they were also part of Arabic speaking world. Author gets to know
more about the relationship between Bomma and Ben Yiju.
Bomma was a slave and during those period salves were used as
apprentices, some were fictive ties of unrelated kinship, some
shared the bond between master and slave which acquired a
religious and spiritual dimension. Bomma was very close to Ben
Yiju his master and was more a companion and partner to him
than a slave.
Ben Yiju settles down in Mangalore in India and marries a girl
from the matrilineal community of Nair. Ashu was his love and
three years later Ben Yiju becomes the father of a son. Here we
can see that Ben Yiju married a woman from different community
breaking the community barrier which happened in 12 th century
itself.
In 1980 author travelled to Egypt, a small village known as
Lataifa, where he began to observe and learn about the Egyptian
people and their lifestyle. He then tells them about Indian culture
and customs, though the views about both the culture doesn’t
match. People in Lataifa are more constrained to their custom
and beliefs.
People in Lataifa and Nashawy thinks that their religion and
customs are more superior to other religion and people over there
don’t even give a chance for the author to explain himself. So, the
author was left helpless in the foreign land. When he went to
meet Ustaz he met Amm Taha there and she asked the author
about burning dead bodies in India and when people didn’t agree
with his point of explanation author felt so frustrated. Thus, he
also explained about the cultural variations and difficulties he
had to face as a foreigner and Hindu.