Watch Out For Those Claws!

I must confess that before I
read the book I sort of already
disliked it. I had heard a lot of
negative reviews about it and
those had clouded my mind. I
needed to find out for myself.
So when I found
a copy of it nestled in my
friends bookshelf I grabbed it, another reason was that i had a college assignment for which i had to read this, but i was absent on the day when this assignment was announced, and i had to sign up my name then so that i could be eligable to participate in a group discussion after reading the books, anyway that's not happening and i'm anyway bad at these discussion that take place in college because my mouth never opens when i need it the most. So i decided to blog my views instead, so here it goes.

At first Aravind Adiga annoyed me
with all those clichés about India
and ‘Darkness’. I’ve had it up to
my ears really with NRI’s who sit
somewhere in the oh-so-perfect
Western world and distribute
their wise opinion as freely as
falling autumn leaves. But
somehow I was determined to
plough on and I’m glad I did.
The story is about the
protagonist’s journey from
‘Darkness’ to the murky dimly lit
avenues of the big city. From
innocence to slick city smartness.
From a smart kitten to a sly
white tiger. From a driver to an
entrepreneur. From a
determined to rise slave to a
considerate employer.
Somewhere along this journey
he loses sense of what is right
and wrong. He only knows that
he needs to rise and keep rising.
His aspirations keep growing and
his selfish motives bourgeon to
cloud all else, including his sense
of morality.
I love the style of narration. The
entire novel is a letter that the
protagonist Balram Halwai writes
to the Chinese Premier who is
about to visit India. Now why he
chooses to open his heart out
to a Chinese…is something I did
not understand. I’m sure there
is some sarcasm out there which
has escaped me. Is it that China
is India’s biggest competitor and
threat?
The novel touches upon various
inherent evils in the Indian
society. The caste system,
corruption, the zamindars and
the slave mentality of the
people – who accept their way
of life meekly, without
questioning. The corrupt political
system which like a crab does
not allow anyone to rise. The
exploitation of labour – where
daily wage earners pays
protection money to the village
big wig (for what joy??), where
a driver doubles up as a washer
of dogs, a cook and what not!
Then there is the other world.
The murky world of drivers in
Delhi. A fierce tribe who find
slimy ways to cheat upon their
equally slimy bosses!
What is it that corrupts Balram?
Is it circumstances? The people
around him? His considerate boss
– who fails to win Balram’s
respect? Pinky madam who
strangely leaves him 4,700 Rs
when she goes away? The other
drivers with their crooked
ways? His father – the rikshaw
puller who died of TB? His meek
brother who was helplessly
following his father’s footsteps?
Is it the politicians that his boss
meets and bribes amidst the
grand political pillars of the
capital?
This is a novel which sets you
thinking without actually being
preachy. Slightly tiring to read…
but nonetheless a must-read.
The prose is simple but the
depth is bewildering! Those many
issues that this novel deals with
they come and torture you just
like how a tiger toys with its
prey...OUCH!... and those claws
hurt!
Do I think it deserved a Booker
Prize – I honestly don’t know!