Lead Review
- Book: The Coffer Dams
- Location: South India
- Author: Kamala Markandaya
This novel was first published in 1969 and has now been picked up by Hope Road Publishing, a company bringing you the best in fiction and non-fiction from transcultural perspectives.
This is the story of the building of a dam, where the English take the lead on the project. The author lays out her stall in the early chapters, observing the uneasy imbalance between the British and the Indians, who largely work in a subservient capacity; the British are there, in the main, to get a job done, irrespective of local sensibilities. Clinton is clearly a rapacious Englishman, who heads up the project. He has chosen land for the company’s accommodation that was already settled and moved the locals on with no concern about their welfare.
Helen is Clinton’s wife, half his age and she has come to India with a very open attitude. She is intent on integrating more with the local community and understanding the country in which she now finds herself. Her trips to local communities raises the suspicion amongst the more staid wives that she might be “going native”, a reprehensible thing to do.
This is the story of an uneasy cohabitation, of exploitation and the vestiges of colonial rule. The author often voiced her concerns about the effects of British imperialism and also had strong concerns about the welfare of animals – Helen observes how birds are trapped and caged and then sets about freeing the little beings.
This is a story penned in the 1960s but which still clearly has relevance today.
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