Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger

Balram Halwai comes from a poor part of India, a little village that he calls Darkness. He’s an entrepreneur who owns a taxi company in Bangalore, one of the largest outsourcing centres in India. How did he become one? Through his eagerness to see the world outside his village, persistence in getting to work somewhere else than a tea shop, listening what may be useful to hear, learning English and murder. And he is extremely proud of his achievement. So much so that he feels he needs to share his recipe for success with the visiting premier of China: “you Chinese are far ahead of us in every respect, except that you don’t have entrepreneurs. And our nation, though it has no drinking water, electricity, sewage system, public transportation, sense of hygiene, discipline, courtesy, or punctuality, does have entrepreneurs”.

The book tells the story of Balram’s life, of how he got to become who he is now. And it is a fascinating story. He tells it with a great deal of humour and wit. He shows us all aspects of India through its casts. He shows us how the globalisation touched India – Balram’s taxi company offers its services in the the late night working hours of the American outsourced call centres. Given the lack of public transport these services are strongly in demand.

I couldn’t stop reading this book. It reads easily, the language is light and funny and the story is so close to my heart. Through my job (welcome globalisation!) I’ve been to India many times and spent a lot of time working with our team there. I love going out there, I love the country (though I haven’t really seen the touristy parts of it), I love the people and every time I go there I find it really fascinating. But there are still so many things that surprise me and that I don’t understand about India. I either don’t ask them as I feel it’s inappropriate to ask or I do ask and it’s as if I was asking why the sky was blue – I never get the answer I was looking for. And that’s what Adiga helps me with – shows me the “backstage” of India, the mentality and the culture and the way of thinking. It's a breath of fresh air and I think it really deserved the 2008 Booker Prize.

My rating: YYYYY