Unveiling Power and Memory: Sangamithra Iyer’s ‘Governing Bodies’ Secrets Revealed
Iyer is a writer who makes excellent use of associations and connections. For instance, when she learns about her Thatha’s work among beasts of burden, she is reminded of George Orwell and his protagonists in the essay “Shooting an Elephant,” and novel Burmese Days. Like those protagonists, her Thatha becomes disenchanted with the British and grapples with his identity, eventually leaving behind financial security to devote himself to activism.
Evaluating her Thatha’s life, Iyer finds parallels in her own journey. She, too left behind more lucrative offers to work for a chimpanzee sanctuary in Cameroon where she helped with water supply. There, she witnesses firsthand the effects of Big Oil extraction in the same manner her Thatha witnessed the British plundering. Iyer eventually leaves her engineering job to pursue activism full time, just as her Thatha had.
