The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

I just finished the book last night. The book is by Aravind Adiga. His first. It is a journey of understanding India - regarded as one of the biggest emerging economies in the world. But, what's not told in the media is successfully woven in The White Tiger.

It surrounds the narration of a driver called Balram, writing to the premier of China who is due to visit India. He wants the premier to know the 'complete' picture of India, from the people who live in the light (the rich) and to the people who live in the dark (the poor, the vast majority of the pyramid in India). Balram is unique. He belongs to both. It is not fair to tell you why he is a bit of both - go read the book.

Adiga is genius with his wits and accurate citation of life in India. It attracts me to be in India really. It is not tourist guide, but it is guide to reality. Adiga is good with his words till I can picture the workers leaving the building of call centres in Bangalore. He is great in that sense. For a first novel, he has done brilliantly. His description of scene and sites is sometime bold - take for example the way he demeans Ganga - being a dark mass not because the embodiment of sins poured by people who redeem their sins, but more of pollution created by the greedy rich.

This book is similar to The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid, in terms of first account narration but I prefer the Reluctant Fundamentalist. The journey was great in the book and the ending was bomb-drop impact, so to speak (I stopped momentarily to digest the ending for I did not expect that). Whereas, as for Adiga's White Tiger is more of a woven representation of how the weak will be oppressed and how the strong will get away with murder.

My only suggestion in reading this book is to take the ride as it is with no expectation of bizarrely strong ending or something. What kept me going was to understand why Balram killed his master, Mr Ashok who is not typical rich man in India for he is nice and kind. I will not spoil you with details, but what's stuck in my head is Adiga's accurate of account of India and his razor-sharp wits gelling the characters and stories to represent what India is. There's still massive hidden plot that only Indian would know, and only certain quarters of Indians would want to scream out loud so that the world knows.