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{{short description|2019 novel by Githa Hariharan}}
{{Infobox book
| name = I Have Become the Tide
| image = I_Have_Become_the_Tide,_by_Githa_Hariharan,_book_cover.jpg
| caption = Cover art for ''I Have Become the Tide''
| author = [[Githa Hariharan]]
| country = India
| language = English
| published = 2019 (Simon & Schuster India)
| media_type = Print
| pages = 322 (1st edition)
| isbn = 9789386797384
}}

'''''I Have Become the Tide''''' is a novel by [[Githa Hariharan]] published in 2019 by Simon & Schuster India. It is her sixth novel, and the third to focus on contemporary India. The book was first published in English, and a [[Malayalam]] translation was published in 2020 by [[Mathrubhumi Books]].

==Background==
[[Githa Hariharan]] is an Indian writer and editor who has written short stories, novels, and nonfiction essays, and edited collections of fiction and nonfiction essays.<ref>{{cite web |title=Githa Hariharan |url=https://githahariharan.com/ |website=githahariharan.com |access-date=26 September 2022}}</ref> ''I Have Become the Tide'' is the sixth novel written by Hariharan, and the third to focus on contemporary India.<ref name="Sharma 2019"/> The title of the novel is from the translated title of the poem "I Have Become the Tide" by JV Pawar,<ref name="Sharma 2019"/> and a translated excerpt appears in the [[Epigraph (literature)|epigraph]] of the book:
:I’m the sea; I soar, I surge.
:I move out to build your tombs.
:The winds, storms, sky, earth.
:Now all are mine.
:In every inch of the rising struggle
:I stand erect.<ref name="Reber 2019"/><ref name="Mohite 2019">{{cite news |last1=Mohite |first1=Ragini |title=I Have Become the Tide |url=https://hkrbooks.com/2019/05/21/i-have-become-the-tide/ |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=Hong Kong Review of Books |date=May 21, 2019}}</ref>

In the acknowledgments section, Hariharan writes the novel was "born out of the conviction that no writer can engage with life in India today without taking a stand, in some modest way, on the terrible inequalities that continue to ravage the lives of so many of our fellow citizens."<ref name="Reber 2019">{{cite news |last1=Reber |first1=Nichole L. |title=I Have Become the Tide by Githa Hariharan |url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2019/autumn/i-have-become-tide-githa-hariharan |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=[[World Literature Today]] |date=Autumn 2019}}</ref>

In a 2019 interview with ''[[Firstpost]]'', Hariharan said her novel "was written with [[Rohith Vemula]], and all the Rohiths of India, in the same room. In fact, the novel was written with all the [[M. M. Kalburgi|Kalburgis]] of India in the room as well."<ref name="Sharma 2019">{{cite news |last1=Sharma |first1=Manik |title=Githa Hariharan on her latest novel I Have Become The Tide, Rohith Vemula, politics of her writing |url=https://www.firstpost.com/living/githa-hariharan-on-her-latest-novel-i-have-become-the-tide-rohith-vemula-politics-of-her-writing-6184071.html |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[Firstpost]] |date=March 6, 2019}}</ref><ref name="Chakrabarti 2019">{{cite news |last1=Chakrabarti |first1=Paromita |title='There is no such thing as an objective fiction writer' |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/express-sunday-eye/there-is-no-such-thing-as-an-objective-fiction-writer/ |access-date=30 August 2022 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |date=March 10, 2019}}</ref> In a 2019 interview with ''[[SheThePeople]]'', she described the book as "not just a novel. It's my citizen's statement at this point in our collective lives."<ref name="Kulkarni 2019">{{cite news |last1=Archana Pai Kulkarni |title=Githa Hariharan On Writing About Caste, Dissent And Resistance |url=https://www.shethepeople.tv/news/interview-author-activist-githa-hariharan/ |access-date=24 June 2021 |work=[[SheThePeople.TV]] |date=June 12, 2019}}</ref>

==Overview==
The novel is written with three narratives, described by Rogini Mohite in ''The Hong Kong Review'' as each "incorporat[ing] histories of [[Dalit]] resistance to the caste system which has historically subjugated and segregated them to the social and economic margins, labelling them 'Untouchables', over thousands of years."<ref name="Mohite 2019"/> One narrative focuses on a poetry professor with a theory about the origins of the poet-saint Kannadeva.<ref name="Sharma 2019"/><ref name="Mohite 2019"/> Another narrative follows three Dalit students as they pursue higher education.<ref name="Reber 2019"/><ref name="Mohite 2019"/> There is also a narrative set in the past of South India about the son of a cattle skinner.<ref name="Sharma 2019"/><ref name="Mohite 2019"/>

==Reception==
In a review for ''[[Business Line|The Hindu Business Line]]'', [[Sharanya Manivannan]] writes that the novel "is required reading for the contemporary Indian context, a highly recommended novel sowed with verse, which provides an unflinching reminder of the eventualities of hatred."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Manivannan |first1=Sharanya |title=Singing about the dark times |url=https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/read/githa-hariharans-novel-i-have-become-the-tide-holds-a-mirror-to-a-contemporary-india-riven-by-centuries-old-prejudices/article26816789.ece |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[Business Line|The Hindu Business Line]] |date=April 12, 2019}}</ref> In a review for the ''[[Deccan Herald]]'', Soni Wadhwa writes that Hariharan "destabilises the notion that poetry and devotion are a domain of the powerful" and "lets these tropes make space for a different discourse about the oppressed in saying that the oppressed need not always be associated with passivity."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wadhwa |first1=Soni |title=Book review: I Have Become The Tide by Githa Hariharan |url=https://www.deccanherald.com/sunday-herald/sunday-herald-books/book-review-i-have-become-the-tide-by-githa-hariharan-731980.html |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[Deccan Herald]] |date=May 5, 2019}}</ref>

In ''The Hong Kong Book Review'', Ragini Mohite writes, "atrocities against the Dalit community persist in alarming numbers in twenty-first century India" and "it is essential for these subaltern Dalit narratives to be at the forefront of critical discourse and literary production."<ref name="Mohite 2019" /> According to Saudamini Jain in a review for the ''[[Hindustan Times]]'', the book is "a well-meaning novel – even if its three inter-linked narratives are essentially oversimplified knock-offs of the stories of [[Rohith Vemula]], [[M. M. Kalburgi|MM Kalburgi]] and a 12th century [[Bhakti movement]]."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Jain |first1=Saudamini |title=Review: I Have Become the Tide by Githa Hariharan |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/review-i-have-become-the-tide-by-githa-hariharan/story-GFF1VpNTApQ2bSFmcJmTCK.html |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[Hindustan Times]] |date=April 13, 2019}}</ref> In a review for ''[[The Hindu]]'', Latha Anantharaman writes, "The experiences of the three students in ''I Have Become the Tide'' will ring true for anyone who has faced discrimination in an educational institution."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Anantharaman |first1=Latha |title='I Have Become the Tide' by Githa Hariharan: The years of the flood |url=https://www.thehindu.com/books/i-have-become-the-tide-by-githa-hariharan-the-years-of-the-flood/article26457403.ece |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=March 9, 2019}}</ref>

In a review for ''[[Scroll.in]]'', Harsh Mander writes that "The book fittingly ends with a contemporary Dalit rising, patterned after the [[Bhim Army]]."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Mander |first1=Harsh |title=Githa Hariharan's new novel is a sensitive, discomfiting meditation on caste and resistance |url=https://scroll.in/article/919428/githa-hariharans-new-novel-is-a-sensitive-discomfiting-meditation-on-caste-and-resistance |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[Scroll.in]] |date=April 13, 2019}}</ref> In a review for ''[[The Indian Express]]'', Ram Sarangan writes, "While Hariharan’s book is about a call to action, at a certain level, it is also encouraging. [...] While seemingly fragile, the voices of defiance and anger do not exist in isolation — they become part of a rising tide."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Sarangan |first1=Ram |title=Walk on Earth a Stranger: Book review on I have become the tide |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/books/walk-on-earth-a-stranger-review-social-structure-caste-system-5747784/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |work=[[The Indian Express]] |date=May 25, 2019}}</ref>

==Publication history==
* 2019, India, Simon & Schuster India, {{ISBN|9789386797384}}, Print
* 2019, India, Simon & Schuster India, {{ISBN|9789386797391}}, EBook
* 2020, India, Simon & Schuster India, {{ISBN|9789386797872}}, Print
* 2020, India, Mathrubhumi Books, {{ISBN|9789389869521}}, Print (translated by Johny M. L. into [[Malayalam]])

== References ==
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[[Category:2019 Indian novels]]
[[Category:Simon & Schuster books]]
[[Category:Indian English-language novels]]

I Have Become the Tide - Revision history

Chardhamyatrahotels at 14:58, 8 August 2024