The White Tiger...

The White Tiger...

Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2008

Aravind Adiga

 India is at a tipping point, both in terms of economic growth and in the human development of its more than one billion citizens. However, India is still facing some challenges like corruption,kleptocracy, poverty and more importantly casteism. Due to these problems, lots of Indians suffer. The author tried to write about these unfortunate people rather than writing about those 5 % Indian who are doing well. The book tries to highlight the brutal injustices of Indian society.

The story is about Balram Halwai who is a servant, philosopher, entrepreneur and murder. Balram tells the terrible story of his life through seven letters written in seven nights. He wrote these seven letters to China's president narrating his transforming story from a poor car driver to a murder.

Balram belongs to a poor halwai family. His mother died when he was very young. His father was a rickshaw puller. Later, his father also died because of TB due to lack of treatment. Due to enormous poverty,   he was forced to leave school and earn money for his family. He started working in a tea shop in his village. Later, he got a job as number two driver for a local landlord. The landlord nicknamed 'the stork' was very rich and powerful too. He was in the coal business. He had two sons. Balram was appointed as a driver of the younger son, Ashok's car. The landlord's family used to treat servants spitefully. They used to bother servants with unnecessary work. 

One day Balram found that Ram prasad, number one driver was hiding something. He found that Ram prasad was a Muslim. The stork was racist hence Ramprasad had to leave the job. Therefore, Balram became the number one driver and got the opportunity to go to Delhi with Ashok sir and Ashok's wife, Pinky madam.

Balram had never been to Delhi before. He was astonished by seeing city lights. However, in a very short time, he understood the bitter truth of the city. He could see the deep darkness which lay beside the bright richness. Delhi was full of Malls, shopping complex, hotels. However, poor people are intimidated to enter. Poor people live in darkness; sleep under bridges and on the footpath. On the other hand, rich people enjoy clubs, foreign alcohol and prostitute.

One night, Pinky madam was drunk and insisted to drive the car.Unfortunately, she hit some poor cyclist. That cyclist died on the spot. To escape from tragedy, the family decided to blame Balram for the accident. Poor Balram had no courage to oppose his masters. Luckily, he vindicated.Day by day Balram was observing his master's activity. He used to see how Ashok sir hand over bags full of money to ministers to exempt from tax. Meanwhile, Pinky madam left Ashok sir and went back to the USA. Devasted Ashok sir, started spending tons of money on foreign alcohol, prostitutes and hotels. Naturally, Balram started wanting a wealthy lifestyle that he got exposed. He wanted to escape from rooster coop and earn money.

 Balram cleverly made a plan to slaughter his master. He executed the plan and absconded to Bangalore. He betrayed his family too. In Bangalore, he started his own firm. Now Balram lives a luxurious life. He imitated his boss and bribed police to get work done. However, he tries to maintain decency too. Finally, Balram has dragged himself out of the darkness. 

You may call Balram a cold-blooded monster, a demon, a murderer. However, he considers himself a person who has woken up while others are still sleeping. He succeeded in the struggle not to take the lashes his father took, not to end up in a mound of indistinguishable bodies that will rot in the darkness. He tried to see 'tomorrow' when others were seeing 'today'.That's why he calls himself a 'white tiger' who broke his cage to emerge out from the dirt.