The Importance Of Knowledge In Ghosh's 'Calcutta Chromosome'
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Think about a world where there is no curiosity. No custom of questioning and criticising. No possibility of changing what is already known. If we believe that to change something we need to know what that is, then in knowing something, one changes their perspective about it. “Knowledge can be self-contradictory. In knowing something, we’ve already changed what we think we know, hence, all we know is nothing; all we know is the history. Knowledge can’t begin without acknowledging the impossibility of knowledge.” (Ghosh) The purpose of this thesis is to present to you the impossibility of the knowledge that human beings can ever discover. There will always be something that will leave us wondering.
Magic is the art of perfect illusions. A magician’s…show more content… Since ages, humans have been trying to find ways of deathlessness. In the novel, “The Calcutta Chromosome”, Mangala is an amateur laboratory assistant, who is trapped in a quest of knowing the practicality of transmigration. While studying the malarial life cycle, she comes across the formation of the-so-called ‘Calcutta Chromosome’ in the malarial parasite. She deeply studies this to acquire more knowledge about the phenomenon. Her knowledge about malaria changes her view point about transmigration. Who would have ever thought of connecting parasites of malarial blood to transmigration? Mangala’s thoughts were unconventional and she believed in the incalculability of knowledge. To gain knowledge about the power of immortality she changed her perspective about the research on the malarial life cycle completely, which aided in her success at being able to transmigrate.…show more content… Aristotle, very conveniently believed that earth was stationary and all the other planets, the moon and the Sun move about it in orbits. To him it was common sense. But only a few questions of Plotemar and Copernicus left his theory worthless. “They proposed the idea of Heliocentrism-the universe centred around the earth, which was a simpler and more reliable concept. Now, in the midst of talks about a geocentric universe, Copernicus had a different idea altogether about the universe.” (Filmer) How? He accepted the limitlessness of knowledge. He gained knowledge about the placement of different planets around the sun in different orbits and talked about epicycles, but he believed that he hasn’t acquired all the knowledge about the universe. His researches never ceased. For him, if he wanted to gain knowledge he would always have to be ready to make the known, history and bring a change to present to change the