Amitav Ghosh
@GhoshAmitav
Followers
468,244
Following
970
Media
527
Statuses
27,476
Author most recently of 'Smoke and Ashes'.
Joined January 2012
Don't wanna be here?
Send us removal request.
Explore trending content on Musk Viewer
Elon
• 637670 Tweets
Argentina
• 402329 Tweets
Celtics
• 219149 Tweets
FANDOMS CONTRA A PL 1904
• 145863 Tweets
Luka
• 132137 Tweets
Chino
• 124097 Tweets
イーロン
• 102445 Tweets
Dallas
• 92685 Tweets
Villarruel
• 91711 Tweets
Mavs
• 84329 Tweets
$COOKIE
• 76635 Tweets
Tatum
• 73273 Tweets
自分のポスト
• 72687 Tweets
自分のツイート
• 65068 Tweets
MARTIN AL 9009
• 56422 Tweets
コロンブス
• 55360 Tweets
プライバシー
• 49279 Tweets
Mavericks
• 45973 Tweets
自分の投稿
• 42035 Tweets
#NBAFinals
• 41895 Tweets
Midori
• 36758 Tweets
Jaylen Brown
• 35479 Tweets
生存確認
• 34507 Tweets
ブックマーク
• 29911 Tweets
#いいね非公開
• 28089 Tweets
Alisson
• 22344 Tweets
ジャンポケ
• 16671 Tweets
Jrue
• 16527 Tweets
ブラウザ版
• 13000 Tweets
#DifferentHere
• 12188 Tweets
Tillman
• 11919 Tweets
Hardaway
• 10163 Tweets
Yesterday I lost my mother. Her death was not Covid related but it's because of the pandemic that I couldn't be with her, in Kolkata. A cruel blow at a cruel time.
This is how I'd like to remember her.
Anjali Ghosh, 1931 - 2020.
1K
399
11K
"What’s happening in India is not that loose variety of internet fascism. It’s the real thing." Arundhati Roy at her best. Must read.
203
2K
6K
At a time when everything seems to be getting worse everywhere, it is heartening to see young Indians rejecting majoritarianism and affirming their faith in diversity, democracy and pluralism.
47
1K
2K
This could be the most important thing happening in the world right now: India's first mass protest in response to an ongoing climate-related agrarian crisis. Of vital significance in a region where more than a billion people will face catastrophe.
Farmers all over India have started to arrive in Delhi today - Adivasi farmers from Yavatmal, Maharashtra; farmers from Sundarbans, West Bengal.. Their demand is for a special session of parliament to discuss the agrarian crisis.
@PARInetwork
@LongMarch2Delhi
#DilliChalo
8
249
399
42
1K
2K
In 1936, Nehru wrote, in a letter to Lord Lothian: 'nothing astonishes me so much as the way the British people manage to combine their material interests with their moral fervour; how they proceed on the irrefutable presumption that they are always doing good to the world...
34
591
2K
It's not just about climate change; it's also about a disastrous model of 'development' being implemented without any thought being given to the risks.
Terrible footages coming out of
#Sikkim
of the 1200 MW
#ChungthangDam
being breached.
Precisely why many have warned about the
#Himalayan
zone not being suitable for big dams & heavy
#infrastructure
. But a certain model of 'development' burries such cautions, putting all at risk!
66
1K
2K
36
807
2K
Just learned that the Dutch Green Party is introducing legislation that will put an outright ban on fossil fuel lobbying and restrict fossil fuel advertising. This could be a big step forward.
42
313
2K
So this just happened... needless to say, I am delighted and hugely honored! It's an incredible privilege to follow in the footsteps of legends like
@Trevornoah
, A.S. Byatt and Barbara Ehrenreich. More here:
173
220
2K
Really shocking how much damage a single scaremongering article by the
@nytimes
has done to journalism in India. And they were warned that this would happen.
71
586
2K
"...colonialism was a human tragedy with few parallels in recorded history."
41
688
2K
Can't stop thinking about the injured and terrorized students at
#JNU
. What will this do to their view of the world and their trust in institutions? Shocking.
43
336
2K
A really exceptional piece by Arundhati Roy. She expresses as no one else can the pain, anger, grief and outrage that everyone I know is feeling right now. Must read.
Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe: ‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’
451
3K
5K
41
463
2K
The Indian Meteorological Dept deserves commendation for its accurate forecasting of
#CycloneAmphan
- saved a lot of lives. The National Disaster Response Force also did a good job. Luckily the tide was low when the storm struck. Bad as it was it could have been much worse.
17
261
2K
Beyond astonished to learn that Salil Tripathi's
@Twitter
account (
@saliltripathi
) has been suspended. Salil is an outstanding journalist, writer and human rights activist. He is also the chair of PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee.
@pen_int
@ayadakhtar
61
361
1K
”Bengalis reject anyone who wants to control what we eat, whom we love and what we wear."
60
210
1K
I am truly honored and humbled...
123
145
1K
Excited to announce my new book, 'Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey Through Opium's Hidden Histories.' To be published in India this July by
@HarperCollinsIN
and in Feb 2024 in the UK and USA. More here: .
77
225
1K
A shocking aspect of this Uttarakhand disaster (in which many of the missing are dam workers) is that a cabinet minister, no less, warned against building a dam at that location.
But still the project went ahead. Why?
39
496
1K
Meanwhile, in Slovakia hundreds of swans have become addicted to opium poppies
43
422
1K
Many, many congratulations to
@ravishndtv
for his richly deserved Magsaysay award. Grest news!
9
119
1K
“Money is being spent on militarization rather than on climate action..."
It needs to be acknowledged that geopolitics is one of the most important drivers of climate change.
21
490
1K
This sea-level-rise projection for Mumbai is really scary. Shows most of greater Mumbai underwater, including the areas around two nuclear installations. Tens of millions displaced. All this by 2050. Never imagined it could happen in a few decades.
52
915
1K
Blown away by this amazing story of a Canadian- American reporter's underground journey to Europe with Afghan refugees. As an account of marginalized & vulnerable lives it belongs up there with Orwell's 'Down and Out' - except that
@mattaikins
took even greater risks. Must read.
17
212
1K
It seems that no one in the Indian govt knew that hundreds of thousands of New Delhi's workers are migrants who would need to go home if there was a shutdown. Unbelievable short sightedness and incompetence.
At least 17 migrant labourers and their family members – including five children – have lost their lives so far in the course of their uphill effort to return home since the lockdown began.
37
316
447
75
443
1K
Bangladesh, once the poorest country in the world, now has a higher per capita GDP than India, Pakistan and Nepal, but is far behind Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
34
335
1K
In the climate space, Professor Saleemul Huq was one of the most important voices from the global south, tireless in his advocacy of climate justice. His death, at a time when voices like his are most needed, is a tragic loss.
21
369
1K
Akira Kurosawa's 'Dersu Uzala' is one of the greatest films ever made. And now you can watch it for free with subtitles and all.
21
228
1K
The architect who's redesigned New Delhi's Central Vista "has destroyed the city of Ahmedabad by cementing over the banks of the Sabarmati river that runs through it, he is in the process of ruining Varanasi..." Must read piece by the great Anish Kapoor.
762
444
958
“The writing of the history of the Indian subcontinent should now begin from the Tamil land.”
The discovery of artefacts and organic material at the Sivakalai site in Tamil Nadu “firmly” establishes the existence of a mature civilisation along the Porunai (Thamirabarani) river. |
@kavithamurali
writes
4
144
417
16
229
971
This has turned out to be an amazing Bijoya. Finished a book and sent off the ms to my editors. Forthcoming 2021.
61
63
980
Astonishing that none of these new books and articles about plant sentience mention Jagadish Chandra Bose, who was doing this kind of work more than a hundred years ago.
33
267
892
In this ethnographic study of climate change and its impacts on Bangladesh,
@CameliaDewan
offers a vitally important corrective to simplistic narratives of global warming. 1/n
Thread 👇🏾
6
287
844
What is happening in Lakshadweep is a horrifying story of ecologically destructive crony capitalism.
The parallels between Patel’s early actions at Lakshwadeep and his innings at the two union territories of Daman & Diu, and Dadra & Nagar Haveli are illuminating, reports
@mrajshekhar
via
@thewire_in
7
129
296
14
228
813
Must watch video (in Hindi). If anyone can communicate the urgency of the current global crisis to young Indians it is
@dhruv_rathee
13
102
792
RIP Ranajit Guha, a giant among historians. My debt to him is immeasurable, as a writer and a friend. In 1999 he spent Thanksgiving with us; here he's on the far right, and his wife Mechthild is on the left. Between them is another great scholar & thinker, Gananath Obeyesekere.
17
119
823
It was truly amazing to learn that I am the youngest writer ever to get the Jnanpith Award...
The 54th Jnanpith Awards evening in Delhi - celebrating Amitav
@GhoshAmitav
the youngest writer to be awarded. Proud moment for everyone
@HarperCollinsIN
as his publishers.
5
24
108
73
98
813
Not only is India encroaching upon the rights of its forest dwelling people, its hunger for gold is also endangering the indigenous peoples of the Amazon basin.
This petition needs only a few thousand more signatures.
Look at the incredible destruction of just one illegal gold mine in Yanomami territory, Brazil. There are hundreds more. India is the main importer of this gold.
Sign this petition to stop it:
#ForaGarimpoForaCovid
17
327
342
14
511
806
Such a great story! Indigenous Himalayans have always been the greatest mountaineers and now no one can dispute it.
“They climbed the last few feet together while singing the national anthem of Nepal.”
Yes, they did.
20
317
2K
5
96
806
Hearing shocking stories from friends in Gurugram about the aftermath of the violence: charred streets, homes abandoned by Muslims. That this is happening in a tech hub that is seen as the symbol of tomorrow's India bodes very ill for the future.
35
421
794
Indian police are now arresting climate activists who responded to
@GretaThunberg
's tweet.
The
@DelhiPolice
chief should hang his head in shame for
#DishaRavi
's arrest, as should
@DrSJaishankar
& colleagues for contributing to hysteria over the toolkit. If these clever men see sedition in it, they aren't fit to hold public office in a democracy.
853
2K
7K
45
232
748
In India "11,716 businesspersons died of suicide in 2020, a 29 per cent jump from 2019..."
24
311
741
In The Great Derangement I wrote that in the event of a major storm 'the thousands of billboards that encrust' Mumbai would turn 'into deadly projectiles'. The recent storm was nowhere near as damaging as a major cyclone would be. Mumbai really needs to cut back drastically on…
29
259
764
Just received my first hard copy of 'The Nutmeg's Curse'! In bookstores soon.
40
52
750
So proud of West Bengal's decisive repudiation of the BJP's politics of religious divisiveness and misogyny in these elections. The BJP chose to make a battleground of the Bengal elections in the midst of a deadly pandemic. 1/3
24
138
749
Naseeruddin Shah reads the preamble to the Indian Constitution, followed by the national anthem, sung by T.M. Krishna.
10
240
716
Just finished
@sepoy
's amazing 'Loss of Hindustan'. Through the work of the great 17th century historian, Firishta, Asif surveys the damage inflicted on the Indian subcontinent by British colonial historiography, with its ideas of immutable religious divisions. Must read!
15
127
738
Thank you
@GretaThunberg
!
10
77
718
A rare piece of good news in today's world: a resounding defeat for the politics of intolerance in Delhi.
#Watch
| "What an extraordinary feat. AAP must be saluted for what they have done": Yogendra Yadav, National President of Swaraj India, on
#DelhiResults
.
#ResultsWithNDTV
29
174
1K
11
94
721
To anyone who witnessed the Delhi riots of 1984, the images coming out of the city over the last few days are a horrifying throwback to that terrible time. This violence is causing irreparable damage, to the city, and to India.
BJP's Kapil Mishra had warned "We will keep the peace till Trump leaves and then...". Turns out the mob didn't wait even that long. I write in
@washingtonpost
: Trump came, but India's politics of hate is what the world saw. Read, share
3K
3K
8K
26
270
715
Found 'Kohrra', the gritty Punjabi Netflix series, thoroughly absorbing: unsparingly shot and superbly acted. Amongst much else, the series is a powerful and disturbing depiction of Punjab's deepening opioid crisis.
22
87
712
Just received another letter from a school (or maybe college) student, asking for a picture of Tridib (from 'The Shadow Lines'). It's so moving when a character from a novel becomes so real to a reader that they want to see what he looked like...
44
47
707
India's Adivasi religions absolutely deserve to have their own census column.
It is our right to demand adivasi religion colum census 2021. And we are not Vanvasi, we are adivasi. we are indigenous people of india. implement tribal religion colum. #आदिवासी_धर्म_कॉलम_बनाओ
58
716
2K
4
169
661
For Norway to sanction deep sea mining is beyond appalling. Fossil fuels have made it very rich with a sovereign wealth fund that will provide for its citizens for generations. What more do they need? Why should poor countries act responsibly when the richest do this?
Rampant free-market capitalism 1 The Planet 0
Again
65
100
332
14
269
681
Here at last, the
@UChicagoPress
cover for 'The Nutmeg's Curse'! On the back flap, some wonderful comments by
@NaomiOreskes
@sunilamrith
and
@NaomiAKlein
("Do not miss this book").
43
115
669
Amazing courage.
Afghanistan: Women protest against the Taliban in Kabul: Today's slogan: "Freedom, liberty is our ultimate right”, “Women right is human rights."
261
2K
7K
11
91
664
Radical uncertainty is a symptom of the planetary crisis. That's sinking in now as never before.
8
103
633
Kishore Mahbubani devastatingly on the mark about the insularity and parochialism of American MSM.
Kishore Mahbubani talks about the west and how they lack understanding of whats happening in the world.
A very good question and a very good answer.
144
1K
3K
34
190
639
It's horrifying to think of the migrant workers who are returning to Odisha and West Bengal on foot and by cycle being hit by a cyclone, and that too in the middle of a pandemic. It's a convergence of catastrophes.
31
460
611
"By any measure India is now a grotesque plutocracy."
18
160
594
For days I've been riveted by this book, which was recommended by
@GKBhambra
(thanks!). She is right; this is a milestone! It tells the story of a 17th century Angolan prince who brought a case before the Vatican, detailing the abuses of slavery and seeking to ban the system. 1/4
6
186
577
Please stay safe Mumbai. The city is very vulnerable, as I wrote in 'The Great Derangement'.
15
114
565
Harsh Mander is a person of absolute integrity, motivated by compassion and a love of justice. It is shocking that he is being persecuted in this way. The use of financial laws to pursue political vendettas will only undermine trust in the Indian legal system.
Everyone knows that there is no case here. The process is the punishment, that too for someone who has advocated nothing but communal amity. And the secondary aim is to scare others, who are already looking for excuses to justify their cowardice.
0
169
332
108
231
573
Indians must stop buying gold mined in the Amazon basin, at the cost of indigenous lives.
Yanomami tribe leader from the jungles of
#Amazon
in south America ask people of India not to buy 'blood gold' that is threatening the survival of his community.
2
91
158
8
134
544
A shocking story of a disaster created by an intersection of authoritarianism, sycophancy, ill-considered ecological interventions and an unusual climate event. A clear sign that the world's derangement is deepening as the planetary crisis intensifies.
16
275
556
To my great surprise, I have been invited to deliver the Presidential Forum Lecture at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union (the Olympus of climate research )! What's more I've already been invited to a banquet and a party. Can't wait!
42
47
555
The acreage of opium poppies in Afghanistan now (224,000 hectares) is only a little more than that of the British Opium Dept in Bihar & UP in the 19th cent (202,342 ha=500K acres). Let's not forget that this is how British imperialism sustained itself.1/2
6
178
537
Of all the predicted impacts of climate change this one is the most dire in the sense that it will affect the most people. Hundreds of millions of Asians depend on water from the Third Pole.
One-third of the ice in the Himalayas and Hindu Kush mountains will be lost due to rising temps by 2100, threatening the water supplies for nearly 2 billion people, according to a landmark new report.
28
721
534
14
469
528
It's always great to hit 'send' on an ms after finishing all the sandpapering. But its even more special when the book's been written, from first to last word, during a pandemic. Out in Sept 2021 from
@UChicagoPress
;
@johnmurrays
UK &
@PenguinIndia
.
@MeruGokhale
@alnthomas
30
47
536
Very much looking forward to delivering the Tanner lecture at Cambridge tomorrow. It's on: 'Intimations of Apocalypse: Catastrophist and Gradualist Imaginings of the Planetary Future.' The in person event is sold out, but zoom registration is open to all:
16
146
533
I'm glad the loss of this glacier is being marked with a funeral. Such rituals are necessary also for mntns & rivers. They might help oil & mining companies (also scientists) understand why landscapes are sacred for many indigenous people (as in Mauna Kea)
15
217
512
India has successfully alienated it's last remaining friend in South Asia. Another great victory for the ruling dispensation.
Clear victory for Oli and his nationalist mojo.
India spent too many years wasting scarce resources on micro-managing Nepal politics. Useless, counter-productive.
Delhi can't be petty. Ignore symbolic amendment. Olis will come and go. Move on, focus on de-escalation, delivery.
51
49
316
29
166
513
"...a classic case of the most craven disaster capitalism..."
Must read 👇🏾
7
233
516
Kudos to
@CMO_Odisha
for their preparedness.
CM
@Naveen_Odisha
chaired review of
#CycloneFani
situation with Chief Secy & senior officials. In last 24hrs, about 12 lakh people in vulnerable areas & kutcha houses moved to safety.
44
83
503
11
60
496
These disasters are never just about climate change. There's always a history.
Lāhainā was once wetland.
Boats circled around Waikoloa Church.
It’s only became dry and fire-prone because of illegal water diversions and land theft by sugar barons in the 1800’s.
Today, the same families reap insane profits off continued control of our irrigation, land…
119
5K
24K
7
183
507
Great piece about the colonial war against ponds, swamps and wetlands - and the disastrous long term consequences. Must read.
1
156
504
Great story on how Dharavi, a poor & crowded part of Mumbai, flattened the Covid curve and became a model of good practices. Yet another indication that the planetary crisis is not going to conform to simplistic narratives of poverty & wealth.
3
146
500
Driving Maasai villagers out of their traditional lands in order to hand them over to a Middle Eastern tourism company is nothing short of ethnic cleansing.
12
305
493
Works for India too now.
Or Bukharin's joke (before he was executed). Apparently told in England. "We also have a two-party system. One party is in power, the other in jail."
6
77
378
20
121
506
Horrifying account of state-sponsored sectarian violence in India.
ICYMI, here's today's
@nytimes
print with our story on the forced evictions in India's northeastern Assam state.
“They want Muslims to live suppressed, under the mercy of the Hindus.”
26
331
557
18
246
482
Great piece on my amazing 'Jungle Nama' collaborator Ali Sethi, and his wonderful song 'Pasoori' which is building bridges across the Indian subcontinent. (His audiobook for 'Jungle Nama' is amazing too).
12
93
483
My family home in Kolkata seems to be in the eye of Cyclone Amphan right now. Landlines are still working. Strange to be speaking to loved ones who are literally in the eye of the storm, even as the winds start intensifying again. 1/2
43
76
483
Wonderful to see the cover of 'Jungle Nama', my verse adaptation of an episode from the Forest Lady (Bon Bibi) legend of the Sundarban. A contemporary reimagining of pre-modern illuminated mss, with spectacular artwork by Salman Toor. Due out from
@HarperCollinsIN
in Feb 2021.
31
45
477
This great son of Motihari, Bihar, was right about many things.
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."—George Orwell, writer (25 Jun 1903-1950)
#BOTD
7
75
271
9
82
478
'The Dawn of Everything', by the late, much-missed David Graeber and
@davidwengrow
is an absolute marvel of a book! Or rather, it's like an earthquake, erupting under the edifices of a whole range of disciplines built on centuries of received knowledge. 1/3
8
88
465
I've long wanted to write about the historical role of Nepal in India-China-Britain relations in the form of a review of the most important work on the subject (below). Don't think I'll ever get around to it so here's a thread instead. 1/7
21
239
446
Next week, on December 11, I will be delivering the Presidential Forum lecture at the annual conference of the American Geophysical Union, which is the largest and most important gathering of climate scientists in the world. Daunting, but also exciting...
29
78
460
This is pretty much what the Indians who became indentured workers or sepoys for the British in the 19th century used to say...
@Advaidism
@GhoshAmitav
Better To Die In Israel Than Of Hunger Here, Say Job Seekers In Haryana
0
11
22
8
155
453
Really looking forward to delivering the Tanner Lecture in Cambridge on Feb 5. The title of the lecture is: "Intimations of Apocalypse: Catastrophist and Gradualist Imaginings of the Planetary Future."
Don't miss this event with Award-Winning Author, Environmentalist, and Climate Advocate,
@GhoshAmitav
!
Tickets are on sale now.
1
9
21
14
95
445
“We can’t account for our emissions without accounting for the military-industrial complex..."
"The Nutmeg's Curse" was way ahead on this.
10
130
445
Two fine historical studies that document the remarkable lengths that the Muslim rulers of the Persian Gulf and East Africa went to in order to accommodate Hindu merchants, mainly from Kachch, Gujarat. Essential reading at a time of simplistic narratives.
10
143
427
This is a really good, important and urgently needed documentary. It's the best account of India's climate risks that I have seen. It is also very watchable. Don't miss it - premieres tonight at 9 pm.
Are we prepared for the future? Climate change has impacted life as we know it. The upcoming changes in our environment could be the major cause of disaster in the future. Watch
#India2050
for a harsh reality check, premieres 29 December at 9 PM.
#CloserThanYouThink
@GhoshAmitav
6
95
134
11
216
429
Because they believe that when they conquer other countries, it's for their good & their own motives are benevolent. This way of thinking is not dead in the Anglosphere: it is what gave us the liberal-interventionist justifications of the invasions of Afghanistan, Iraq etc.
7
66
432
This is why it's vital to remember this history. Because it's not - or not just - about what happened in the past: it's about what's happening in the present and what will happen again and again in the future unless this past is remembered.
9
63
432
"Something profound is happening in the world — a kind of metaphysical detachment of the west from the rest."
Must read
13
144
426
Thread: The
@nytimes
' superb articles on slavery & capitalism made me doubly glad to receive this excellent new study of another commodity that was foundational to modern capitalism: opium, produced under duress in the narco-state that was British India. 1/4
8
193
419