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Title: A colonial wanders the empires
Review: The story begins in India, moves to England and then to Portuguese East Africa. It finally ends in Berlin. Willie, half Brahmin, half 'backward', struggles through life in societies all severely altered by a colonial history. Even when he arrives in Berlin, his last chronological stop when the novel ends, his world is still mentally enmeshed in a third world fabric - poor Tamils coming in to sell flowers at restaurants and the blacks taking shelter in phone booths.I experienced Africa in the way I have experienced Indian rural life. Naipaul sees hard, sharp and with a deep, wide span. I often shudder at the strength of his gaze. In the beauty of his prose, there is a sweet poignancy even in the melancholic 'sea of Africa' and the harsh nightlife Wlillie takes to. I had the feeling of being lost there myself, such as in my boyhood days in Bellary or Davanagere.
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