Weaving Water

In 1917, the last ship taking indentured labourers from India to the sugar plantations of British Guiana sets sail, taking with it Rampat and Parvati, a childless couple looking for a new future. During a furious storm at sea, a child is born and put into their arms as the unwed mother dies. They adopt the child and call her Neela.

From the outset, Neela's birth engenders talk of the mystery surrounding the legend of the sea goddess, Ganga. Fifteen years later, and Neela seems to imbibe some of this adoration and fear herself, viewed as both divine and human; a destroyer and saviour.

Neela's story, told against the backdrop of the growing racial conflict between Indians and Africans, reveals a country and a people shaped by history and mythological superstition.