Aravind Adiga, The White Tiger

A book that won the Man Booker Prize with Amitav Ghosh's "Sea of Poppies" for competition better be one helluva book. Such were my thoughts when I started reading Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger". Unfortunately, word of mouth around this book, although encouraging, was not exhilarating except from, of course, the jury which handed Aravind Adiga the Booker Prize. Cousins who'd read it didn't go out and out singing praises. A close well read friend said it's "good but not award worthy". Surprise surprise, a certain septagenerian, my well-read grandmother, read it twice in a week! She was disappointed in not being able to convince a certain under attack (by this very novel!) software engineer, a distant cousin, of its greatness. This cousin of mine apparently was upset with the scathing portrayal of India. My wife, presently in the middle of "Sea of Poppies", feels Ghosh Babu should have won the Booker. To sum up, my granny is only person I know who the jury would have no problem convincing. Will I side with the second most important woman in my life, my granny, or not upset the woman I have never upset (I swear!), my wife?

Having read the first chapter I felt my cousin was right (another woman). Adiga starts the book proclaiming he will show the real India. It just didn't feel right that a thirty-five year old who'd spent a major part of the nineties and this decade in Australia, England and the US would show the rest of the world what the real India is. Even I can't claim to know the real India. Who am I? Nobody! IFS officer Vikas Swarup's "Q and A" (am starting this tomorrow) adapted into the Oscar winning (and worthy in my opinion) 'Slumdog Millionaire' raised hues and cries among Indians I know, they were telling all Americans here, "India is not like that man." I told them, "Man! If a government official doesn't know India who does?". I looked up Adiga's profile: journalist, south Asian correspondent for Time, free lance journalist, now residing in Mumbai. Seemed okay. Even then I didn't want to let this pass. Somehow someone actually he will show the real India in an award winning novel at first seemed filmy, yeh hai asli India (even Jamaal says something to this affect to American tourists in 'Slumdog Millionaire'). I feel such statements should not be made in novels or movies since some ignoramus may take them to be true or close to true. Not a good start Mr. Adiga, am leaning towards Revathi here.

My granny wins. 'The White Tiger' is a very good novel Paati. Even I want to read it again Paati. Here's why:

1. In my life I have read quite a few novels and watched many many films. I'd like to believe I can spot a new theme in a work of fiction. Here one theme is Indian servitude and is new to me. The White Tiger keeps referring to the premier of China as 'sir' right through the novel. Don't we do it all the time? My PhD advisor makes fun of me all the time for saying too many ma'ams in our conversations. I have a friend who works for Infosys and won't hear a word against Infosys. He'd treat Narayan Murthy with more respect than his own father! Indian women have resigned themselves to lives of servitude, catering to the slightest whims of the men in the house. Even our entrepreneurs, as Adiga writes, are not really like Apple or Microsoft or Google, they merely write software for retailers. Adiga presents a fresh theme in his novel making his arguments through our favorite Gods (Krishna the charioteer, Hanuman the perfect servant), the 'Rooster Coop' and even through the gaudy fortune telling cum weighing machines in railway stations. Adiga believes in this theme so much that he has Mr. Ashok and the Mongoose (this name and Vitiligo Lips reminded me of Salman Rushdie) speak in a language the driver understands, go as far as criticizing him openly. A new theme and I think I agree with Mr. Adiga here. Sir, Aravind sir, you are right sir.
2. The character of the White Tiger seems to me to be a microcosm for entrepreneurs. Actually this is what I'd like to believe. A few documentaries and recent financial events have made me suspicious of private firms. The White Tiger's start-up, as he types it if I am correct, has a foundation of blood. He says it's okay since he has committed only one murder while other men in his position have killed many many on their way to the apex. Even the murder his driver commits towards the end of the novel is taken care of with no emotion by the White Tiger. There is no judicial process that he has to go through. He doesn't care for the judiciary or even the government. His experiences have proven both to be incompetent, I have had no experiences of my own but the news gives me the same feeling. Corporations too, I believe, think they are above the law or the government. They make their own rules, complicated and in very very fine print, which work perfectly for them. The White Tiger too has his own rules.
3. A good novel will immerse readers in a new world. Adiga's debut is surely not as stylish as Rushdie's bilingual prose or Naipaul's descriptive detailing but it works to a large extent. I felt like a driver reading the book, the long waits, Balram's best efforts at eavesdropping, socialising outside malls with other drivers, the servants' quarters in apartments, smuggling foreign liquor and golf balls for masters, being blamed for theiving petty cash, passengers going into PVR and drivers going to the PVR opposite PVR, coming across the clear demarcation of human feces between the rich and the poor, dogs cooling off in sewage water. I liked them all because I have wondered how drivers kill time while masters party (Bhandarkar's "Page 3" provided some answers, may even have been some kind of inspiration for this novel), what do they do if masters decide to spend the night away from home (do they actually sleep in the car?), what do they eat when unexpected drives have to be made, etc.
4. There is one other major theme which has me divided. The Indian family. Aravind says this is the reason why many servants will never cheat their masters. To become an entrepreneur the White Tiger has to make peace with the fact that his entire family (of seventeen!) will be killed for his mistake. I hear similar reasons from friends who (claim) they can't grab the opportunities in front of them because they have to think of their family. V.S. Naipaul's "A House for Mr. Biswas" is also about Mr. Biswas' lifelong efforts to become independent of his family. We've known people around us who out of respect for their parents had to choose certain careers, choose certain spouses, live a certain (clandestine) way. Dharmendra had to run away from his family to pursue his dream of being a film star, go against his family's wishes. So, is Adiga's point valid? I know people who have achieved great things despite this reason, I also know others who couldn't. Rahul Dravid once said of Narain Karthikeyan something to affect, can we imagine the discussion at the dinner table when a child says he wants to be a Formula 1 driver.
   

At 276 pages this book breezes through. The English is simple (I didn't know what rampart meant, forgot what erstwhile meant, etc.). For a book whose strength is brevity and simplicity I found it to be quite profound. Chetan Bhagat can learn a few lessons from this novel if you ask me.

Rating: 5/5