The Lowland

The Tolly Club, a country club and golf course, highlights the differences between socioeconomic classes post World War II. With high walls to keep out the undesirable, the poor and refugee population, the club caters to the rich and British population—“the height of the wall was raised, so that the public could no longer see in” (4). The Adi Ganga river that runs through town is polluted due to the influx of Hindu refugees living in shanties along the river.

Subhash and Udayan are curious young boys who are attached to each other. Although he is older, Subhash is not as daring as his younger brother. Through their neighbor Bismillah, who worked as a caddy at the golf club, the boys acquire broken balls and a dented putting club. He gives them rudimentary golf lessons and teaches them where the Tolly Club lacks wire fencing, an easy location for trespassing. 

Out of curiosity, the brothers break in to the Tolly Club one afternoon and look around, making sure to keep away from the patrons. Using kerosene tins to climb over the walls, they come back one day to find a tin missing. A policeman confronts them about their trespassing, and they answer his questions honestly, stating they have come to the property many times. He agrees not to report them to the Club or tell their parents. They don’t get away without some repercussions, as the policeman beats welts into Subhash’s legs before letting them go: “Stop, Udayan shouted to the policeman. He crouched next to Subhash, throwing an arm across his shoulders, attempting to shield him” (9). 

Subhash and Udayan spend most of their childhood together, and yet they are very different people. Subhash is a reserved and obedient lover of solitude who tries his best to remain unnoticed. Udayan is outspoken, not afraid of authority, and motivated to try new things: “While Subhash stayed in clear view, Udayan was disappearing […] he hid compulsively […]” (10). Subhash was jealous of the way his parents seemed to prefer Udayan’s wild personality: “Subhash wondered if his placid nature was regarded as a lack of inventiveness, perhaps even failing, in his parents’ eyes” (11). Recalling a time that Udayan disobeyed his parents’ orders and left his footprints on the drying concrete in the courtyard, Subhash is not surprised when his parents enjoy and cherish the folly instead of being upset.

Despite their age difference, they enter school at the same time and continue doing everything together. At school they learn the history of India, Calcutta, their marshy town of Tollygunge, and the colonization and displacement of their people by the British.

The brothers thrive in science class and find their hobbies and future professions. Chemistry, physics, and engineering motivate Udayan to become a proficient electrician as he practices on his own home. Subhash is always by his side to hold a flashlight. Installing a buzzer doorbell, Udayan has the idea to learn Morse code from library books. The brothers start communicating through their new language to share secrets they don’t want their parents to hear.

In 1964, the brothers graduate high school and are both accepted to great universities on opposite sides of Calcutta. With Subhash at Jadavpur for chemical engineering, and Udayan at Presidency for physics, the two brothers have limited time at home together as they start to create new and separate lives: “Still, each day of his life began and ended with Udayan beside him” (18).

Using the shortwave radio they built themselves, the brothers spend the evenings chasing radio signals and listening to news programs from afar. They hear about the US military intervention in Vietnam, weather reports in Europe, the rise of Communism in China, riots between Muslims and Hindus, and a most memorable World Cup match between Germany and England. 

It’s 1967 in the agricultural village of Naxalbari, West Bengal; a Maoist unrest has begun, organized by leaders Majumdar and Sanyal. Grounded in years of mistreatment of indentured peasants, a sharecropper is beaten for legally tending his land, and the police turn a blind eye. After weeks of rebellion, the police fire on a rioting crowd and 11 people are killed.

As Subhash and Udayan discuss the event, Udayan starts to express his support of the revolt and blames the United Front and the West Bengal government. Later, when they learn that the government is forcibly raiding the villages and killing those who are resistant, Udayan’s anger grows. For the first of many times, Udayan leaves the house without his brother: “Udayan paused before leaving. This could only be the beginning, he said” (23).

Udayan has a political argument with their father; due to their father's government job, he never spoke up against injustice. Here we see that Subhash and his father have similar demeanors and passive personalities. Udayan continues to find fuel for his political beliefs, from literature to comradery with new friends at the university. Despite their growing differences, the brothers continue their dialogue of their political ideologies. For Udayan, the Tolly Club represents imperialism and oppression: “He said the Tolly Club was proof that India was still a semicolonial country […]” (25). On one walk, they pass the lowland; the two ponds are separate, not united. 

A year later, the United Front collapses, taken over by President’s Rule. Despite college campuses full of striking students, Subhash and Udayan both decide to continue with postgraduate studies. Udayan starts to disappear more from home; he is distant from his family and doesn’t reveal where he has been. The dinner table is silent without his brother’s radical talk: “Though Subhash missed his brother’s company, at times it came as a relief to sit down at the study table by himself” (28).

Subhash accepts an invitation to attend a Mao meeting with his brother. Subhash doesn’t agree with the political discourse and finds himself struggling to understand his brother’s point of view. During the event, he feels distant from his brother, struggling to understand if it was some fault in Subhash's own character.

The rebellion starts to paint red slogans on banners and hang them up around the city under nightfall. Subhash finds out that his brother is participating in this forbidden activity and accompanies him one evening, but doesn’t enjoy it: “He was sick of the fear that always rose up in him: that he would cease to exist, and that he and Udayan would cease to be brothers, were Subhash to resist him” (29-30). Subhash is starting to turn away from the closeness he has with his brother but is unsure of how this will affect their relationship.

After applying to PhD programs in the United States, Subhash reveals his plans to Udayan. The two brothers argue about each other’s plans, Udayan thinking traveling abroad is selfish, and Subhash thinking that his brother’s involvement in the rebellion is dangerous. After the argument, Udayan tells his brother not to leave, that he is complete when they are together. Subhash doesn’t agree and wants to follow his own path.

Shortly after their discussion, Udayan leaves for the countryside and although he doesn’t say what he is doing, the family knows of his involvement in the rebellion. A month later, he returns subdued, and in ill health.

In mid-1969, the Communist Party of India, Marxist-Leninist, The CPI(ML) become an official communist party in Calcutta. The guerilla warfare peasantry party, the Naxalites, gain strength, and on May Day they hold an official rally: “He hadn’t accompanied him to the rally, nor had Udayan asked him to come. In this sense they had already parted” (33). Subhash was finding out how to be separate from his brother. 

Rhode Island and Tollygunge are worlds apart, and the difference so great “that he could not accommodate the two places together in his mind” (34). Subhash’s new roommate at the university, Richard Grifalconi, is a social justice advocate, attending rallies and protests. Just as he had avoided being a part of Udayan’s political activities, Subhash avoids attending events with Richard. They do have political discussions, but they differ from his talks with Udayan: “Richard listened to him instead of contradicting him. He didn’t merely try to convert him” (41).

Subhash meets a professor originally from Calcutta named Narasimhan; the professor has an American wife, and he never invites Subhash to his house for a meal. His oceanography campus overlooks the Narragansett Bay, a beautiful remote estuary. Subhash witnesses a marriage at the old church next to the beach and wonders how his own marriage will be. Subhash's parents will arrange his marriage, meaning that he will have to live in their house in Calcutta, not something he is in a rush to do.

Subhash makes curry and rice for his roommate often, and in turn Richard helps pay for groceries and teaches Subhash how to drive his car. Subhash spends a lot of time by himself, driving around, walking on the beach, looking at the birds, and comparing the water and plants to the lowland back in Calcutta.

Subhash receives a letter from Udayan about his increasing political activity, a blindfolded meeting with Sanyal, and the renovations their parents are doing on the house. After reading the letter multiple times, he burns it at his brother’s insistence so that it can’t be incriminating. Subhash’s written response contains only information about his PhD research on the marshland. Another letter from Udayan reveals that he was married in secret to a woman named Gauri who is also political. Udayan's parents are upset with him, and Subhash feels upset as well: Subhash met Gauri before he left for the United States. Subhash burns the letter but keeps the photograph of Gauri.