Rama's Bridge
While reading this book, I had countless moments where the thought “I must learn English well” flashed through my mind. Besides, not long ago I replied on my blog: “In this lifetime, I must learn a programming language, PHP or Python; learn a foreign language, English or Japanese.” I’m already 22 years old now…
The reason for learning English well is simple. If one day I suddenly have a little spare money, I can sling on a backpack and hit the road. Today on Tianya Community, I saw a girl who traveled all over Southeast Asia to South Asia with just ten thousand yuan. This shows that outbound travel isn’t exclusive to the middle class. Basically everyone can achieve it as long as they’re willing to take the first step.
In reality, Rama’s Bridge is a story about a rich second-generation kid traveling in India. The author, Zheng Chen, online handle “Poison,” spent three months traveling in India in 2010, then took another year and a half to write this novel. From the plot and accompanying photos, I feel this book has more real elements than fiction, and it also feels like the author himself is quite wealthy.
India is a magical country. Although it’s right next to China, I know less about it than Brazil on the other side of the earth. I only know it’s the world’s largest democracy, but also a country with very low per capita income and a huge wealth gap. So every time there’s an online debate about national systems, India always appears as a counterexample, indicating that democratic systems aren’t suitable for China. The author repeatedly expressed his disgust for India in the novel—because the Indian government has low efficiency, officials are vain and extravagant, and the people are desperate, indifferent, greedy, and not clean. But India also has its lovable aspects. Darjeeling in the Northeast is a very famous tourist destination in India with beautiful scenery and simple, honest people. Unfortunately, the people there have no sense of belonging to the Indian government and often have separatist activities. When reading about all these bad things about India, shouldn’t a trace of superiority as a Chinese person flash through my mind? Not at all!
In the novel, the person traveling with the author is a Chinese-descended woman, Miss Darjeeling. She grew up in India, completed university in Canada and obtained Canadian citizenship, then worked as staff at an international company’s India office. But her feelings toward India are very complicated. She thinks of herself as an Indian, but locals don’t see it that way. She wants to live in China, but China no longer has any connection to her. No matter where she is, she’s someone who’s not understood. I can feel her helplessness. Perhaps except for overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, overseas Chinese from any other country have more or less the same emotional experience as her. Having no relatives in China means being forever disconnected from mainland China, becoming a middleman that neither country welcomes.
The novel ends with Rama’s Bridge. Rama’s Bridge is a series of limestone shoals between Mannar Island near the northwest of Sri Lanka and Rameswaram on India’s southeast coast. The seawater in this area is very shallow, only one to ten meters deep, and some dunes are dry. It’s said that before the 15th century, pedestrians could walk on it. Here they encountered an Indian policeman named Raghu. He was a survivor of the 2004 tsunami in Thiruchendur and was taken in as a godson by the police chief of Rameswaram. He was very upright in his work. While supervising Miss Darjeeling going to handle visa renewal, he was angered by officials who wouldn’t accept money but also wouldn’t do anything, causing the author’s trip to have many unnecessary troubles. Miss Darjeeling therefore said: “But… a person’s integrity… here… is fucking pathetic!…”
Perhaps Raghu was India’s hope, but one night he disappeared. I guess he walked toward Rama’s Bridge.