The story opens in New York with the Egyptian computer programmer/data analyst Antar discovering an ID card of a missing acquaintance through his Ava/IIse, a computer with an attitude. Ava, who is frighteningly human at times, can speak every language on earth and does not hesitate to show off or throw a tantrum on occasion. Through her, Antar enters an intriguing, timeless world, so compelling that he can scarcely keep himself from becoming involved with the adventures of his fellow programmer, the missing Murugan, or from believing Murugan’s theory of a secret, powerful group operating in complete silence that controls the destiny of mankind. As Antar is drawn in by Murugan’s tale, he is transported to a Calcutta hundred years in the past, into the laboratory of Ronald Ross and Ross’s experiments in malaria research. Here he sees how several fortuitous (yet in Murugan’s mind, suspicious,) circumstances leads Ross to discover the method of transmittal of malaria to human beings.

The Calcutta Chromosome is an admirable science fiction novel (It won the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award) but it is also much more. It has elements of a horror story, medical history. The book is about the shadowy story of the discovery of the malaria parasite by a British medical man in colonial India, Dr. Ronald Ross. The fictional Ross is green in his profession but is aided by a shadowy religious sect which pushes him in the right direction. They plan on using his discoveries for their own purposes, which rely on the parasite’s ability to cross the blood-brain barrier and extend far beyond a malarial cure.The medical aspects of malarial fever make it fertile ground for a work of fiction. It can provoke wild dreams and hallucinations, which its remedy, quinine, does as well. And intentional malarial infection was once used as a treatment for syphilis, another disease with end stages marked by mental degeneration:

Drifting in and out of events, like the insubstantial morning mist, are a pair of mysterious figures, the untouchable Mangala and her companion Lakhan. Antar sees them resurfacing again and again but in different time periods, ranging from Ross’s 19th century Calcutta to the Calcutta of the 1990s. Antar discovers too that in its modern avatar, the city can still hold many dangerous secrets. He meets (through Murugan) fascinating characters like Urmila, a journalist with a chip on her shoulder, Phulboni, a poet with a mission, and the beautiful, dramatic ex-actress Sonali Das. As Murugan seeks to find the logic in this seemingly chaotic scenario, Antar follows in his enthusiastic wake till events loop back to New York and Antar finds himself in the eye of the storm.

The concept of time plays a critical part in “The Calcutta Chromosome.” At one level, it seemed to me, that all events described in the book were taking place simultaneously. At another, it appeared to be linear as one event follows the other chronologically. Ghosh’s skillful manipulation of time keeps the reader slightly disoriented and on edge. Perhaps this is what he was aiming at. After all, the jacket of the book describes it as “A novel of fevers, delirium and discovery.”

Like all good science fiction, “The Calcutta Chromosome” makes you think. What is the nature of time? Can souls transmigrate through genetic tampering? Can the history of mankind be pre-written by a few? Amitav Ghosh has written a fascinating book with its sly and humorous mingling of science with myth. Capable of being read at several levels, it is the sort of story that remains with you long after you’ve shut the final page.