Sunday 23 February 2014

The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga


Yesss! I read it and that too in a week only. Being a thriller buff, I’m so scared off serious fiction… rather I was… But this book has totally won me over. Narrating a very grim story in such a humorous way left me awe-struck. The language is simple and crispy. The book contains 8 letters written by Ashok Sharma, a hot-shot entrepreneur from Bangalore to the Chinese Premier Mr. Wen Jiabao, before his impending visit to the Silicon Valley of India. The story is basically the metamorphosis of a village boy ‘Munna’ to the triumphant entrepreneur Ashok Sharma. He belonged to a remote village ‘Lakhsmangarh’ in Gaya district of Bihar, where his father was a rickshaw-puller. Lost his mother at childhood. He was admitted in a School, where the masterji re-christened him as Balram. Balaram had to drop-out from School to work in a tea stall. After his fathers untimely death he had to shift to Dhanbad. Dhanbad changed him a lot. He became  a driver and got a job at the home of the local landlord. He was having a descent life when one of his masters Mr Ashoke took him to Delhi. Delhi played the bad part and destroyed the innocence. He became cunning, greedy and  corrupted to the soul. Finally one day he slit the throat of his master Mr. Ashoke , who was very fond of him by the way and ran away with Rs. 7 Lakh.
Some people may complain that the book has shown India in a bad light. But we cant deny the facts. There is a dark India we hardly know about. I personally feel that the author has shown both the +ve & -ve points about our country. You may give it a shot, if  haven’t read it already. In short I had good time.

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