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“Zubben”, Amitav Ghosh explains, is “the flash lingo of the East”. This article examines how his trilogy of historical novels supplements English with (at least) 23 other languages and invites readers on a verbal voyage in which interpretation is required but inhibited. The challenges of navigating through his rich prose expose readers to a verbal cornucopia, which feeds a series of related themes sustained by a narrative rhythm of convergence and divergence, all stemming from asymmetrical colonial relations during the opium trade. These themes include: abundance and poverty, intimacy and exclusion; hybrid languages; authority and self-deception; chance and fate; the ineffable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]