The White tiger (?!!)

I have read the book "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga which won the Booker prize this year. I thought the book was well written and showcased the big difference between the rich and the poor in India. The protagonist of the book was in no way a hero, but to my surprise, i found myself sympathizing with him at several occasions. They dont make Dhirubai Ambanis everyday and it is a sad truth that many poor people do resort to illegal ways to get out of their wretched lives.

This is the main gest of the story : Balram Halwai, a chauffeur, murders his employer, and justifies his crime as the act of a social entrepreneur.

Many may think the book shows India in a bad light. The book does seem to exaggerate at several places. The westerners cocooned in their own pretentious world might enjoy reading about a country ridden with poverty, corruption and what have you! But there is also no denying that no country in the world has a bigger class divide than India. There are two worlds here, one belonging to the rich and the other to the middle class and the poor. A living example of this is Bombay with its sprawling Dharavi slum and the towering skycrapers surviving symbiotically next to each other.

The author has to say this:
"With their tinted windows up, the cars of the rich go like dark eggs down the roads of Delhi. Every now and then, an egg will crack open - a woman's hand, dazzling with gold bangles, stretches out of an open window, flings an empty mineral water bottle onto the road - and then the window goes up, and the egg is resealed."

Everything said and done, I definitely recommend this book to everybody. It might just change the way you look at the society!