Everything in
Moving to the city, he learns a lot by listening to snippets of conversations of his masters, buys rich man clothes so he can enter a mall, “dips his beak” into a call girl and does many other things which only big, bad city boys do. Ultimately however, being the ‘first-gear’ man that he is, he gets sick of being a servant. The story takes a new turn, with Balram acquiring dreams of killing his master and being his own master. In the end, he does, and moves to
Now don’t get me wrong, I think the book is written wonderfully. In more than a few instances, one cannot help but chuckle at the sheer simplicity, yet somehow mixed with satire, of Balram’s words. His observations of daily life are presented in a macabre but very entertaining way. It really gets readers thinking about what a messed up country we live in.
If Gregory David Roberts’ Shantaram managed to ooze optimism out of every dark little Indian corner, Aravind Adiga does just the opposite. He criticizes pretty much everything, from how village women look, to how city women dress, to politicians to landlords to his own grandmother. No wonder Balram Halwai become a murderer, as his character seems to be exceptionally full of hate.
White Tiger is an enjoyable read, albeit extremely dark. Read it if you enjoy subtle humour, akin to that of Mark Haddon or the Adrian Mole series. Laugh at the atrocities of the Indian system(be it family, parliamentary democracy, marriage, schooling, ANYTHING!) but beware- this book has the uncanny ability to suck you in, although you might hate every bit of reading about
