The White Tiger

I recently read this award winning book and I am highly disappointed.The book is about a servant man and his uprising from a servant to an enterprenuer by putting his family at stakes and murdering his master who treated him well and just.
I may be wrong but at times I strongly feels that in the outside world people just love the idea of poverty and discontentment , for instance "Slumdog Millioniare" was nothing great still won so many oscars whereas some of Indias best work are denied any recognisation.
Yes the reason is poverty is sold. My problem with the book is that the author tried to generalised the trend. He put the story in such a way as if it happens with evry second person in India.I found the language used not at all impressive , it may be because the writer wanted to give it an impresssion as been written by an almost illetrate Balram halwai(the central chracter) himself.
Writter tried to show the contradiction between the new" India Shining" with the old phenomenons of poverty,he did it in the most ugliest possible way.

All these awards and bookers prize, I am not sure what is their criteria and who decides?

Similar to Slum dog Millionaire hype, where people like to see the filth of other nation (does not matter how messy and dramatic it is), this is another case.

If we change the name of the Slum God Millionaire to Slum Boy Millionaire - 50% of west will lose interest in movie.

After all filth attracts worms, flees and mosquito.

I am little upset when people only promote negative side of any person/country. Not saying that story and plot are totally wrong - but why to show only what you want to say. Why not take a balance view. People will love balance view more. Their view may not count for bookers prize....

now looking with little calm mind. Why I am still giving 3 star. Narration is pretty good. Plots are well connected. Dramatization is bit too much, does not seem realistic (It is not that I do not know India village side reality. I have seen enough in village)

Overall it is decent read but not so much as much for grabbing world attention with prize etc.

I will rate another novel - A maverick heart between love and life - much better in bringing difference in India life vs US life in balance way. It has multiple view - one who support capitalist side another social side but beauty lies in its portrayal of balance view. Great college romantic like and later on matured view on corporate and social work.

And funny part - why Amish Tripathi (Immortal of Meluha, Secrets of Nagas) or Ashwin Sanghi (Krishna Key) do not get same coverage?

Maverick Heart between love and life is very new but very promising, so need to see future but There is no doubt in Amish and Ashwin quality.

Their books are very meaningful, matured and deep - only part - they do not just write filth side of India.

West rise above your obsession with Filth. India has many things to offer.

A boy born in rural India faces all the grim realities of life along with his family. Be it at school where the head-master doesn't do anything except for chewing betel leaves and snoozing around or be it at tea-shops where he started working when he was just a kid! As things proceed, it becomes interesting to watch how this kid who is forced out of the schools so that he can work at Tea-shops in order to provide monetary support to his family starts learning at these outlets found at every nook and corner of India.

He develops and builds on his skills at these shops where he observes people and eavesdrops on the conversations of his customers. He had a dream and he worked for that dream. The ways and means adopted might not be ethical and moral but he does emerge out as a White Tiger in the end; one of its own kind in the lot!

India, the land of diverse culture, the epitome of “Unity in Diversity” might not have been portrayed the way we all would have loved it to be. But all what he says and conveys isn’t mistaken entirely. There exists a White Tiger in most of these people who are relatively more close to the India depicted by Arvind Adiga. But can all of them pull it off? It is worth contemplating what are the factors contributing to the making of “White Tigers” in our society and what can be the repercussions of these?

The Novel is based on the life story of Surya Dev Singh, the great Coal Mafia of Dhanbad. He was the servent of BP Sinha, the then powerful Mafia cum Politician of Dhanbad. After the Murder of BP Sinha, Surya Dev Singh came into power. The Coal Mafia also had links with Chandrashekhar, once Prime Minister of India. I am pretty sure that the story is very much inspired by this Coal Mafia. Though, Adiga has tried to give it twist and turls in his own way adding a lot of Masala. When I was reading the novel, I could easily relate it to Surya Dev Singh, because we have been listening his story for years from our parents and grand parents. The director with difference, Anurag Kashayp is also working on such script and his projects name is "Gangs of Wasseypur" which is coming this June 22nd. Overall, it was a nice reading. It tells the bitter truth of the society which sometimes is hard to swallow but these are untold stories of success.

Let animals live like animals; let humans live like humans. That’s my whole philosophy in a sentence, said by Aarvind Adiga the author of the prestigious novel the white tiger also honored by the man booker prize in 2008, it audaciously challenges and shatters the convention that India is the fastest growing democracy and economy. He hammers the mask of semblance that clambers our so called ”great India” and exposes the harsh and brutal reality nailed into the heart of each and every soul that resides in the darker part of our nation. The great divide between the rich and poor of India is genuinely portrayed by Balram who is the protagonist of the story, mockingly called by the author a half-baked Indian housing in the darkness, deprived of formal education but a self – educator in himself. The protagonist embarks on a journey of defying darkness and pursuing the light of prosperity. A profound metaphor used by the author “rooster coop” refers to all the poor servants from the darkness as fettered chickens which before long are going to be brutally butchered by their own masters, the people they have served for so long. Balram a chauffeur by profession finds himself caught in the coop when his own masters are ready to send him to jail for a crime he has not committed. Balram is confused as he is compelled to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. He ought to break out of the coop by adopting any means, showcase himself as the white tiger, the rarest of rare animal that comes once in a generation, sniff the air of freedom and money or die like his own hardworking and honest father on the floors of a government hospital- he contemplates one day. As you read through the novel his choice becomes conclusive, he murders his own master, Mr. Ashok who turns out to be reeking with the same corruption rich blood like every rotten rich of our country and thugs him off with rupees and became what he always dreamed of “an entrepreneur”. At the end of the novel he says “ I will never say I made a mistake that night in Delhi when I slit my masters throat . It was all worthwhile to know just for a day, just for an hour, just for a minute, what it means not to be a servant.
In my opinion the thrill which the novel fosters will captivate you till the end even when the plot becomes obvious. The novel will take you to the India of corrupt choices and fettered freedom. It will provoke you even more to think is this the great nation we all are proud of? Is India only borne of corruption and deceit? Has the level of immorality reached such an height? The story would come up with different interpretations but above everything it will leave you mesmerized.