It has been quite a long time and I have been wanting to make a post for ages. I helped myself to a whole bunch of books when I was in Chennai and here is a review on one book that I bought there!
The White tiger!
It was a booker prize winner. I think you can compare it to the movie Slum Dog millionaire in the sense, that there wasn't exactly anything fascinating about it, but it was a decent entertainer and it somehow caught the imagination of the jury and won a prize. This book is a good read no doubt, but it's not a work of literary art or anything. It is a tale of rags to riches. It shows the differences in lifestyle between the rich and the poor, what people do to get where they want, and talks a lot about how India actually is a land of opportunity for those willing to bend and play by the unofficial rules that exist in the Indian system. The Narrator Balram is a pretty interesting character and quite easily defines the average lower strata Indian. Infact In my recent trip to Chennai, I remembered seeing the dozens of call taxis zoom along OMR to reach the numerous offices late at night and my thoughts came to The White Tiger. The changes that have happened in India over the past few years due to IT have been tremendous, and I realised the effect only this time.
The White Tiger in short, is a bundle of truth packed in commercial packaging to make for a very interesting book. A worthwhile single read for sure!
