Travel to Bangladesh

Slowly Down the Ganges

Format: Paperback
Author: Eric Newby
ReleaseDate: September, 1998
Publisher: Lonely Planet Publications
Rating:

Humorous But Not Enlightening
There's no great insights here, no V. I read this book after I'd spent a month in India and I found it LOL funny. S. Naipual style reflection or analysis, it's just a tale of two Colonial-era Brits determined to travel the 1,200 mile length of the Ganges by boat in 1963/64. But if you're a westerner who's ever spent an extended period of time trying to get around inside of northern India, I suspect you'll find this book as amusing as I did. So in that sense it captures some of spirit of the place, though perhaps it's only amusing if you've experienced first-hand the chaos that is India. It's probably not a good choice if you're looking for a traveler's introduction to "modern" India.

hilarious, but typical writing through a colonial prism
While Naipauls 'Area of Darkness' had the pain and disgust of seeing his country of origin in shambles, and Joseph Campbells 'Brahman and Baksheesh' had the disappointment of his lack of success in seeing theory in practice , one wonders about motives of Eric Newby in writing this book. During the 1950s and 1960s there were several travel books written on India, whose tone were in general (many cases rightfully so) caustic. Imagine the irony of a former member of a plundering army coming back, enjoying the hospitality of the same region, lamenting about how bad everything is. Throughout the book, he almost has nothing good to say about the culture, religion, beliefs or the traditions that make Ganges sacred to a billion people . The only people he warms up to are those of his own religion, and other natives who praise the Raj (perhaps he misses the Indian sense of hospitality to visitors , to make them feel at home, even if they dont actually mean it).
But the book is hilarious where it doesnt get condescending, probably belongs to a bygone colonial era, where trashing heathen beliefs would get you a book deal. I give it 3 stars for the pure spirit of adventure involved in the travel and for his devoted wife who puts up with lot of chaos in a foreign land.

Not his best work
I actually fell off the couch laughing. I am a long-time fan of Eric Newby since stumbling upon his 1956 book, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. In addition to the adventures of the trip, Newby offers an inside look at Afghani geography, history and culture in a very readable form. Gently Down the Ganges, by comparison, I found monotonous and dreary, almost whiny. I strongly recommend Newby for his self-deprecating, dry "British Traveler" wit but cannot recommend Gently Down the Ganges as the best of Newby.

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	A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush
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