Book Review - The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

  The White Tiger is a narration of the metamorphosis of a poor lad, raised in a society filled with vermin, corruption and every other social malaise into a successful entrepreneur. How this boy maneuvers his way out of the destiny that his clan is doomed to see, into one that they can only dream

of forms the crux of the tale.

  

  Balram Halwai is an adolescent high school drop out who works in a tea stall located in a small village in northern India. He is sent to the city to earn a decent salary for his greedy money squandering family where he lands himself a job as a driver. His master is an educated young man who hails from the same village as Balram. The story then, traces out his journey from being an oppressed menial to a shrewd and calculative businessman by resorting to underhand and often, gruesome means.

  

  What makes The White Tiger an interesting read is the colorful bunch of characters that one can easily relate to in urban India. Ashok, the employer, is the conventional foreign educated Indian. His father lives a life bereft of morals but wants an exemplary education for his son. Thus, on his return from the States, he falls prey to the corrupt working of the rest of his household owing to his naivety. Despite being perturbed initially, by the crooked dealings surrounding him, he ultimately gets sucked into the rut of bribery and rampant extortion. Pinky, the catholic wife is an archetypal lady who is forced into living in India, while craving for the luxurious life in America. This constant difference of opinion with her husband, who is sandwiched between being an ideal son and a henpecked husband, eventually results into their separation.

 Balram is intitially depicted as sobre boy, displaying common emotions of fear, lust, anger, ambition and remorse. He’s selfish in a way as he wants to rise beyond the barriers society has laid out for him, but doesn’t aspire the same for his older brother who has stuck with him through thick and thin, although, he feels a deep sense of pity for his fate.

 The manner in which the author conveys Balram’s mindset which is tuned to thinking that he is born to be a servant of the upper class for a lifetime and how desperation to break out of this mould forces him to take extreme measures is impressive. Arvind Adiga has depicted Balram's helplessness when falsely convicted of causing an accident as well as his innate greed for the red bag full of diamonds so effectively, that one can't help but sympathize with him regardless of his crude and unethical modus operandi.

  There are subtle references to how bribery has managed to seep into even the grass root level in India, although the intensity varies. One can easily strike a chord with the bureaucrats who won't pluck a feather without a fee as well as the smug policemen who have a mutual understanding with the rich and famous, summarizing that modern India is working on the 'you scratch my back, I scratch yours' protocol.

  The author implicitly cites how socialism or communist thinking is on the rise, wherein the proletariat is frustrated of trying to make ends meet generation after generation while the rich reap in profits. Balram's thinking is evident in his empathetic letter to the Chinese official, on how things work differently in the two contrasting economies. The White Tiger is a simple story at heart, brought to life by the myriad characters along with its sordid yet realistic narration and the dark humor accompanying life in contemporary Indian society. A fantastic read !