Sindh Revisited: A Journey in the Footsteps of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, 1842-1849-The India Years

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

In 1822, a young English officer named Richard Burton arrived in India
to take part in the British conquest of South Asia. In Burton’s case,
the conquest became mutual. Almost immediately, he began immersing
himself in South Asian culture by adopting native dress, language, and
even religions. After being forced out of the East Indian Army for
immorality (no easy feat), he went on to become a famous travel writer,
translator, explorer, and amateur anthropologist. In the book under
review, Christopher Ondaatje sets out to retrace Burton’s footsteps in
Sindh.

Ondaatje’s fascination with Burton is understandable. Ondaatje was
born in Sri Lanka. He came to the West and, by his own admission, did
well in the business world by understanding the capitalist system better
than most of the natives. Similarly, Burton did well in India by
assuming the manners and speech of the locals. Unfortunately,
Ondaatje’s attempt to follow in Burton’s footsteps is seriously
flawed.

Burton spent seven years in India, while Ondaatje does not spend even
that many weeks. Burton spoke directly to the locals in their own
language; Ondaatje relies on translators. Burton shunned ruling-class
snobs in favor of mingling with the masses; Ondaatje ignores the local
population to mingle with academics, retired bureaucrats, and faded
Indian royalty. Finally, while Burton was so sensitive to other cultures
that he became the first outsider to enter the Muslim holy city of
Mecca, Ondaatje shoves his way into South Asian society using a
combination of cameras and armed bodyguards. It is not surprising, then,
that many of his photographs feature people displaying expressions of
annoyed intrusion. This is not Sindh revisited; it is the Western
invasion revisited.