I have just finished reading “The White Tiger”, which is a novel
written by Aravind Adiga, an Indian author and journalist. In 2008, “The White Tiger” won the “Man Booker
Prize”, which is literary prize awarded for the best original full-length
novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of
Nations, the Republic of Ireland, or Zimbabwe.I feel this book deserved this award,
because I found it very interesting and fun to read. I have chosen two
paragraphs from the book which I felt are important for the entirety of the
book.
HOW DOES
THE ENTERPRISING DRIVER EARN A LITTLE EXTRA CASH?
1. When his
master is not around, he can siphon petrol from the car, with a funnel. Then
sell the petrol. 2. When his master orders him to make a repair to the car, he can go to a corrupt mechanic; the mechanic will inflate the price of the repair, and the driver will receive a cut. This is a list of a few entrepreneurial mechanics who help entrepreneurial drivers: Lucky Mechanics, in Lado Serai, near the Qutub R.V. Repairs, in Greater Kailash Part Two Nilofar Mechanics, in DLF Phase One, in Gurgaon.
3. He
should study his master's habits, and then ask himself: "Is my master
careless? If so, what are the ways in which I can benefit from his
carelessness?" For instance, if his master leaves empty English liquor
bottles lying around in the car, he can sell the whiskey bottles to the
bootleggers. Johnnie Walker Black brings the best resale value.
4. As he gains in experience and confidence and
is ready to try something riskier, he can turn his master's car into a
freelance taxi. The stretch of the road from Gurgaon to Delhi is excellent for
this; lots of Romeos come to see their girlfriends who work in the call centers.
Once the entrepreneurial driver is sure that his master is not going to notice
the absence of the car—and that none of his master's friends are likely to be
on the road at this time—he can spend his free time cruising around, picking up
and dropping off paying customers.
I chose this paragraph because in my opinion,
this is the turning point for Balram Halwai. This is when he stops being the
polite and obedient servant and human, to becoming more independent and selfish.
He had stopped sending money home to the family, but I believe that
was not due to selfishness, but to anger towards the remaining family he had.
Using the tricks on how an enterprising driver earns a little extra cash,
Balram becomes another person.
When I drive down Hosur Main Road, when I turn
into Electronics City Phase 1 and see the companies go past, I can't tell you
how exciting it is to me. General Electric, Dell, Siemens—they're all here in
Bangalore. And so many more are on their way. There is construction everywhere.
Piles of mud everywhere. Piles of stones. Piles of bricks. The entire city is
masked in smoke, smog, powder, cement dust. It is under a veil. When the veil
is lifted, what will Bangalore be like? Maybe it will be a disaster: slums,
sewage, shopping malls, traffic jams, policemen. But you never know. It may
turn out to be a decent city, where humans can live like humans and animals can
live like animals. A new Bangalore for a new India. And then I can say that, in
my own way, I helped to
make New Bangalore. Why not? Am I not a part of all that is changing this
country? Haven't I succeeded in the struggle that every poor man here should be
making—the struggle not to take the lashes your father took, not to end up in a
mound of indistinguishable bodies that will rot in the black mud of Mother
Ganga? True, there was the matter of murder—which is a wrong thing to do, no
question about it. It has darkened my soul. All the skin-whitening creams sold
in the markets of India won't clean my hands again. But isn't it likely that
everyone who counts in this world, including our prime minister (including you,
Mr. Jiabao), has killed someone or other on their way to the top? Kill enough
people and they will put up bronze statues to you near Parliament House in
Delhi—but that is glory, and not what I am after. All I wanted was the chance
to be a man—and for that, one murder was enough.
This paragraph,
in my opinion, lets us know how Balram feels about those who are very successful
in life. He tells us about his hopes and fears for the future of Bangalore, and
also the rest of India I presume. He talks about the difficulty of “not
to take the lashes your father took” as he says it, and to become a man in the
eyes of other. I feel this paragraph almost sums up Balrams dreams, to become a
man, and for India to evolve into a decent society.
