Calcutta

by Moorhouse, Geoffrey

  11 The ultimate poverty. Some people cannot even afford to burn their dead, so they slip the body into the Hooghly and, a few days later, dogs are seen chewing over a floppy, almost rubberized thing, which by some mysterious chemistry has been bleached almost totally white from head to toe.

  12 The voice – and the mood – of Calcutta in 1971. From one end of the city to the other walls are now covered with slogans like these.

  About the Author

  Geoffrey Moorhouse has been described as ‘one of the best writers of our time’ (Byron Rogers, The Times), ‘a brilliant historian’ (Dirk Bogarde, Daily Telegraph) and ‘a writer whose gifts are beyond category’ (Jan Morris, Independent on Sunday). His numerous books – travel narratives, histories, novels and sporting prints – have won prizes and been translated into several languages: To the Frontier won the Thomas Cook Award for the best travel book of its year. In 1982 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and in 2006 he became Hon DLitt of the University of Warwick. He has more recently concentrated on Tudor history, notably with The Pilgrimage of Grace, Great Harry’s Navy and The Last Office: 1539 and the Dissolution of a Monastery. Born in Lancashire, he has lived in a hill village in North Yorkshire for many years.

  Copyright

  This ebook edition first published in 2012

  by Faber and Faber Ltd

  Bloomsbury House

  74–77 Great Russell Street

  London WC1B 3DA

  All rights reserved

  © Geoffrey Moorhouse, 1971, 1983

  The right of Geoffrey Moorhouse to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly

  ISBN 978–0–571–28113–8