The White Tiger- Aravind Adiga

For a first attempt Adiga has done justice, with all his experience as a business journalist. But at places he leaves you feeling there is something left uncovered. there are few loose ends and cynicism and barbarism comes too raw and is going to definitely hit a person's view of India if he is going to see through the eyes of Adiga's protagonists.

The whole novel revolves around 7 letters written by the protagonist Balram to the Chinese premier Jiabao, who is due to visit India from his 150 sq.ft office in Bangalore which has a hindi film style huge chandelier...

The narrator really takes you through every phase of Balram's life, from the village he is born (which he calls Darkness) to Light (the city here Bangalore)

A few instances that really hit a nail...

"It is a custom of People in my country to start a story by praying to a Higher Power..

I guess, Your Excellency, that I too should start of by kissing some God's arse.
Which God's arse, though: there are so many choices
See the muslims have one god.
The christians have three gods
And we hindus has 56000000 gods.
making a grand total of 56000000 divine arses for me to choose from..."

Another one..

“Only three nations have never let themselves be ruled by foreigners: China, Afghanistan, and Abyssinia. These are only three nations I admire.”

Another glimpse

The first day at school, the teacher made all the boys line up and come to his desk so he could put our names down in his register. when i told him what my name was he gaped at me......
"Munna? thats not a real name'
He was right; it just means boy.
"That's all I' ve got, sir,' I said.
It was true. I'd never been given a name.
"Didn't yuor mother name you.?
"She's is very ill, sir....she lies in bed and spews blood. she's got no time to name me."
"And your father?"
"He's a rickshaw-puller, sir. He's got no time to name.'
"Don't you have a granny?Aunts?Uncles?'
"They have got no time either.."
The teacher turned aside and spat.- a jet red paan splashed the ground of the classroom. He licked his lips.
"Well, it's up to me, then, isn't it?' He passed his hand through his hair and said, "We'll call you..Ram..Wait don't we have a Ram in this class? I don't want any confusion. It'll be Balram. You know who Balram was, don't you?

Balram then comes to the city to work as a chaffeur, and the novel presents a clear picture of the domestic servants, the chaffeurs minds the competition,how these servants are watchful of what happens with the masters..

The learning curve of Balram, from a small boy working at the tea shop in Darkness to a self made entrepreneur in the Light, shows us the true facet of India shining, with the barbaric wit, the cynical views about family ties, marriages, corruption, business everything, even slitting the throat of his master.

The novel is a brutal satire on the dog-eat-dog world, totally corrupt which is a far cry from the India Shining that we claim.

People who don't want to look beyond the illusion of India Shining refrain from reading the book...

Hi Shanvy,

Just in time! I am currently reading it...just managed to cross 30 pages. Yes...in the first few pages itself i felt that "hit" at the back of my head...to wake up from "India Shining" to, should I say, "India in Reality"......

Those lines you have quoted....also hit me hard....i admire only 3 nations...and the reason behind it.

I do have a bit of struggle to maintain the continuity....more after i finish.

Cheers
Jenz

NB: While there are no spoilers as such in the following post, you might want to consider NOT reading my views (it has been necessary for me to go into some detail about the novel to illustrate my points) if you haven't read the novel first.

Shanvy

Thanks for your views on The White Tiger. While I enjoyed reading the book, and I thought it was an admirable effort for a debut novel, I didn't think it stacked up against previous Booker winners (for me, it wasn't quite in the same category as novels like Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient). However, it is still a great read and will be of particular interest to those who are concerned about the social, economic, and cultural ills that prevent India from fulfilling its potential (by the way, I think India is a great country with great people, but like most developing countries, it has lots of problems, so don't anyone take offence by what I'm writing here!).

The narrative style is a bit distracting, and I felt the start of the book leaned more heavily on the "letter to the Chinese premier" device, which somehow disappeared into the background towards the end, which may have been a good thing, because then we could concentrate on the narrative as opposed to the narrative technique.

I'm not from India, though I did live there for about a year. I tended to agree with a lot of Adiga's harsher observations about Indian social structure, the yawning chasm between rich and poor, and the hypocrisy and cruelty that results from these problems. However, I was concerned, as you so rightly pointed out, that many Indians would be hurt by how bluntly and condemnatory his tone is in revealing these shortcomings. It has always impressed (and sometimes amused!) me as to how patriotic and loyal the average Indian person is, often to the point where criticism of India and anything Indian is seen as betrayal, and as you say, this novel may hurt the sensibilities and feelings of Indians who may not want to see their country portrayed in this unkind light.

In fact, I warned my husband, who is from India, that he might not want to read this book because I didn't think he'd enjoy the cruel and unflinching revelation of some of India's more pressing problems with hardly any acknowledgement of some of India's positive qualities. But it seems that unlike so many other novels concerning India or Indians, Adiga's agenda is not to pay homage to his homeland, but instead to reveal all that maddens and frustrates him about it. He has every right to do this, and I think this kind of introspection will ultimately reap benefits, since admitting something is wrong is the first step to solving the problem.

When I first went to India, I was appalled by the lower status accorded to servants and the poor treatment that was often meted out to them (the lives of the child maids I observed in the houses where I was a paying guest and later a tenant sometimes reduced me to tears). I know not all Indians treat their maids like this, but it was far too common a sight for it to have been more the exception than the rule. For me, then, Adiga's treatment of this phenomenon (Balram is a driver and we get an in-depth look into how these "invisible" and "dispensable" people are treated by their rich and uncaring masters) struck a chord.

At times, the cruel twists and turns of Balram's life are almost too much to bear, especially because he seems to be completely at the mercy of other people. In addition to his masters, his own family uses and abuses him (all in the name of hierarchy, custom, and culture), and it is quite depressing to observe a grown man who is so not in control of his own life. As a result of his harsh treatment at the hands of others, he learns to "wheel and deal" himself. We may be rooting for a change in our protagonist for the better, where he frees himself from his shackles through honesty, hard work, and determination, but instead, at the end of the novel, for me, Balram turns out to be no better than his selfish, self-indulgent masters.

As much as we may yearn for a happy ending, I think this may be Adiga's rather cynical comment about how some things work in India. As Shanvy points out, Adiga is satirising the dog-eat-dog world. His message seems to be that no matter what you're like going into the system (innocent, honest, responsible), the system will spit you out after turning you into "one of them" - you will be a carbon copy of those who dominated and exploited you and so ensured their own success, and to ensure your own success, you must in turn exploit and dominate others (at the end of the novel, even Balram's little nephew has learned how to "play the game" and is blackmailing his uncle).

This message can plunge one into the pits of despair, especially since the rest of the book is such heavy going in terms of hopelessness and inevitability. While it may seem at the end that Balram has escaped his "destiny" as per his birth, we see that his progress (money, power, control over his own life) has come at the cost of his humanity. If, after all he has done to improve his lot, he is no better than the masters he has outsmarted, where does India's hope lie? Perhaps it is not Adiga's job to provide us with answers, but after he has revealed these problems in such a painfully precise way, I would be very interested to hear what he thinks the solution might be, if in fact he thinks there is a solution at all.

Ansuya

One more thing...

I'm interested, Shanvy, in why both you and Jenz were struck by the comment made about how the protagonist admires the three nations which have never submitted to foreign rule.

In and of itself, this doesn't strike me as anything but a quirk of history. If we look at those three nations (China, Afghanistan, and Ethiopia), they may have their good points but all three of them have an abundance of problems (and I'm not sure any of them rank very highly in terms of quality of life for their own people, which for me should be the most important responsibility for any country and its government).

If anything, those three countries may reinforce the rather unpalatable view that whether a country has been colonised or not is no guarantee of success or development in the future. Often, it is all too easy to blame problems on marauding foreigners from the distant past (we do it all the time in South Africa and I think it is sickening hypocrisy). This ensures our present rulers always have a convenient excuse for their own failings. It has always been a pet peeve of mine that we are quick to criticise colonialism for ill-treatment of "natives" but more lenient when it comes to holding present-day governments responsible for the inhumanities they visit on their own people.

I wonder if Adiga puts this in here as a kind of sly, sarcastic poke at what it is that we find admirable, in an effort to make us really think about these things (as opposed to just being impressed by what seems, superficially, to be somehow significant). But I may be going off on a completely unrelated tangent here, so I look forward to your and Jenz's response as to what it is about that fact that struck both of you.

Ansuya

Originally Posted by Ansuya

Shanvy
Thanks for your views on The White Tiger. While I enjoyed reading the book, and I thought it was an admirable effort for a debut novel, I didn't think it stacked up against previous Booker winners (for me, it wasn't quite in the same category as novels like Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient).

Hey buddy, thanks for your detailed review..i did not want to put any spoilers, and wanted to just put in a glimpse of his writing..and I felt the same, that it was not in the same line..but still he went to hit some note somewhere with the jury i suppose.

The narrative style is a bit distracting, and I felt the start of the book leaned more heavily on the "letter to the Chinese premier" device,

yes definitely distracting, plots and explanation inside explanation spoil the original flow...

It has always impressed (and sometimes amused!) me as to how patriotic and loyal the average Indian person is, often to the point where criticism of India and anything Indian is seen as betrayal, and as you say, this novel may hurt the sensibilities and feelings of Indians who may not want to see their country portrayed in this unkind light.

Ansuya, i agree with you about hurting the sensibilities, but if the people who have to take notice do it..i am fine with it...

(at the end of the novel, even Balram's little nephew has learned how to "play the game" and is blackmailing his uncle).

People have become self centric, and money maketh the world today...

Perhaps it is not Adiga's job to provide us with answers, but after he has revealed these problems in such a painfully precise way, I would be very interested to hear what he thinks the solution might be, if in fact he thinks there is a solution at all.Ansuya

somebody in one of the review/interview had hinted at Adiga, plotting the details of Balram and the household servant along the lines of Aarushi's murder case that happened sometime back..
Adiga has rightly said that he has brought in his observations as a journalist in this book.. I wonder what was his purpose other than this being a satire....his diagnosis of India has been precise and brutal, but the suggestions to the operation cleaning up is not his problem i suppose...

Originally Posted by Ansuya

One more thing...
I'm interested, Shanvy, in why both you and Jenz were struck by the comment made about how the protagonist admires the three nations which have never submitted to foreign rule.

I will also like to know about jenz view on that. mine, is purely, from the protagonist's admiration. the person who is not so educated
thinking on the lines of the three countries..his admiration on China, and Adiga's belief that china is the next powerful nation...

Hi Anusya,

That was a good review to read. I have not yet finished the book...will take some time...not reading it at a faster pace!

To answer your statement on the admiration for three nations, I would say just felt it is worth an admiration about the fact they had managed to guard themselves well without letting the others' rule, which we failed in. Nothing beyond and no comparison or to say this is better than that....etc....

Both sides has its pros and cons.

I agree with you and shanvy that this book is not for average Indian read where sentiments are going to be hurt. In fact, I am curious to come across someone who is not accepting this book and would like to hear from them....

Cheers
Jenz

Shanvy

I do appreciate your thoughtful and detailed reply to my post. I'm not familiar with the case of Aarushi but I will read up on it to get a better insight into Adiga's motivation or inspiration for this novel. Thanks for the tip!

Jenz

I'm glad you enjoyed my review. Thanks for the input on the issue of the three countries which had never submitted to foreign rule. I hadn't really thought of it like that. I guess if you look at any country, it has gone through its fair share of occupations and invasions (even Britain, the US, France etc.). It seems to be human nature for us to want to conquer each other (maybe that's what Adiga is getting at, since his book has a lot to do with domination and control of the weaker by the stronger).

I always think that we shouldn't really look at it as a failing. In India and South Africa, for instance, we did gain a fair bit, although I do acknowledge that we lost much in the way of mineral resources and national identity, for example. But nothing much remains "pure" anyway.

It is very interesting to me that you say it still hurts that the British ruled India once. Thank you for sharing that personal insight. I had always thought that Indians seemed particularly tolerant and forgiving of colonialism. And I've heard many Indians gleefully discuss the fact that due to colonialism and the subsequent mastery of English by Indians, we've got a colonial backlash now with vast numbers of Indians moving to and making a great success of their lives in the UK!

You raised a great point, about hearing from people who maybe were not so impressed with this book. Like you, I'd love to hear some ideas from others, especially those who may have had problems with Adiga's agenda or content.

Ansuya

'The White Tiger ' by Aravinda Adiga forays into the deeper conscience of a Driver-turned -murderer-turned -enterpreuner...
This is more like a countenance of a guilty mind.He uses thre first person for narration and his language is sublime , although it conveys a subtle ruthlessness....The turmoil of thoughts that embroil 'The White Tiger' and compel him to murder his master who was like a foster parent is unparalleled....
A must read for all Indian Fiction Lovers...Adiga is at his best ..

hi,

I read the book. It was OK. But not up to the mark. He lack emotion and expressing the whole story.

Somehow i have given up reading this book ...not even half way through! Couldn't get myself to turn the rest of the pages!!!

Cheers
Jenz