RECYCLING OLD STUFF

Pardon me. I know `The White Tiger' is old news now but here's what I think of it. I read it after it won the Man Booker prize in October '08. But since I am back on the blog after a long break, I am putting it up. And it did appear on MUST DO - the cinema, books, art, culture show, I do on CNBC TV18.

“The White Tiger” – Aravind Adiga

Now reactions to Aravind Adiga’s “The White Tiger” winning the Man Booker prize have been coming in fast and furious. I have finished the book, and here are my two bits.

Did I like the book? I have mixed feelings. It’s paced well, and it is easy to get through to the end. And that is saying a lot. But the writing doesn’t take your breath away. Its clever and racy but it doesn’t make you stop, re-read and savour literary art or craft. The plot is simple; the characters are not fully fleshed out. Atleast I don’t think so. The fact that its written from the point of view to someone who belongs to what Kishore Biyani calls India 2 or the serving class, a driver in this case, is the classic double edged sword. It sets the book apart but it also makes it weak. Balram Halwai, that’s the driver or the protagonist doesn’t quite resonate.

The book is at its best when Adiga turns the lens to the class he comes from himself – some of the sharpest bits are when Balram becomes the mute, almost invisible bystander to everyday conversation, behaviour and concern of the people in the backseat – the master and the madam. The book is subversive and I mean that as a compliment. If real life Balram Halwais read it, it well help change the social status quo.

But then I don’t think that is what Adiga wants. Adiga wants people like us to change. The White Tiger provokes and challenges equally our conscience and the modern professional ethos we subscribe to in most spheres of life. It questions the fact that in our dealings with hired help and people who depend on us we’re still as feudal as our forefathers – both as individuals and as a nation. Those who try to be different do it half-heartedly and ineffectually as Ashok, that’s Balram’s employer does. He raises great expectations, but doesn’t live up to any.

“The White Tiger” has a happy end – Balram Halwai, escapes what he calls the rooster coop. But it comes at a price, one that undermines the most basic human right – the right to live. So is “The White Tiger” a must read? Well, yes. Is it a book that will go down in my memory as one of the most evocative, insightful books that I’ve read? Well, no. But it's a book that makes you think. And that is always a good thing. I’m hoping Aravind Adiga will meet us soon because it’s a book that gets you talking.