Slowly Down the Ganges

Slowly Down the Ganges
Eric Newby

‘Slowly Down the Ganges’ is seen as a vintage Newby masterpiece, alongside ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’ and ‘Love and War in the Apennines’. Told with Newby's self-deprecating humour and wry attention to detail, this is a classic of the genre and a window into an enchanting piece of history.On his forty-forth birthday, Eric Newby sets out on an incredible journey: to travel the 1,200-mile length of India's holy river. In a misguided attempt to keep him out of trouble, Wanda, his life-long travel companion and wife, is to be his fellow boatwoman. Their plan is to begin in the great plain of Hardwar and finish in the Bay of Bengal, but the journey almost immediately becomes markedly slower and more treacherous than either had imagined - running aground sixty-three times in the first six days.Travelling in a variety of unstable boats, as well as by rail, bus and bullock cart, and resting at sandbanks and remote villages, the Newbys encounter engaging characters and glorious mishaps, including the non-existence of large-scale maps of the country, a realisation that questions of pure 'logic' cause grave offense and, on one occasion, the only person in sight for miles is an old man who is himself unsure where he is. Newby's only consolation: on a river, if you go downstream, you're sure to end up somewhere…

ERIC NEWBY

Slowly Down the Ganges

Dedication (#ulink_9002a9ed-2fc3-5d30-bd8f-a0b5617884dd)

To Wanda – my fellow boatwoman

Epigraph (#ulink_f8dcb0e5-27fa-5164-996f-d40a864b3cce)

‘The Ganga has been a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilisation, ever-changing, ever-flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga. She reminds me of the Himalayas, snow-covered peaks and the deep valleys which I have loved so much, and of the rich and vast plains below where my life and work have been cast.’

Jawaharlal Nehru

‘Here I asked repeatedly, and received a different account … Perhaps these particulars vary in different instances. At all events it is a proof how hard it is to gain, in this country, accurate information as to facts which seem most obvious to the senses.’

Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India Reginald Heber, D.D., Lord Bishop of Calcutta

Contents

Cover (#u939b9b0a-5a9f-5960-a4d9-f436958b327a)

Title Page (#u3f908e8f-43f9-5df2-956e-ae8a0c9812e5)

Dedication (#ua2e29e46-0464-56fe-aabd-a7d5c9d6b5e3)

Epigraph (#u2ea5492d-d363-5865-a6e0-9df345884e20)

Maps (#u0bd0b1e6-705b-59a6-b64b-100a347ca898)

List of Illustrations (#uf20e4881-2870-5eeb-867f-5b63e080704c)

Introduction (#u2db8059b-2635-5b4c-8918-9b3ed3b20565)

1 Long ago on the Ganges (#udb48b2f0-9108-51cb-86a0-1642df12e734)

2 The first sight of the river (#u96a0995f-c6ef-57e0-8b21-ad5a5c409f29)

3 Life at Hardwar (#uffc3c073-23f1-5ce9-bf98-9691c2ba5010)

4 Down the Ganges (#u4a4236d7-671d-504f-aa37-cbeaaf004ec0)

5 Through the Bhabar (#uac1691e9-dfb0-5f81-af7e-9d6d85c9df24)

6 The way to the Balawali Bridge (#u310535c0-2424-5b2a-91aa-8693b1f8926c)

7 A short halt at a railway station (#litres_trial_promo)

8 An encounter with a bridgekeeper (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Terra firma (#litres_trial_promo)

10 A journey through Uttar Pradesh (#litres_trial_promo)

11 A place in the country (#litres_trial_promo)

12 From a carriage window (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Remembrance of things past (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Slow boat to Kanpur (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Christmas at Kanpur (#litres_trial_promo)

16 The Ganges at Prayag (#litres_trial_promo)

17 The way to Mirzapur (#litres_trial_promo)

18 The fort at Chunar (#litres_trial_promo)

19 A stay at Banaras (#litres_trial_promo)

20 The day of Makara Sankranti (#litres_trial_promo)

21 From Patna to Bankipore and back (#litres_trial_promo)

22 Cooking a Baffat (#litres_trial_promo)

23 The islands at Colganj (#litres_trial_promo)

24 Into the Bhagirathi (#litres_trial_promo)

25 Arrival at Calcutta (#litres_trial_promo)

26 Down to the sea (#litres_trial_promo)

Plates (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)