The White Tiger

Has anyone read The White Tiger? It is quite strange for a Booker winner or may be only ‘such’ books win the booker.

Anyways, here is this half baked cookie from some obscure town in India, who gets the opportunity of his life to work in a big city with a master (is that a politically correct word any more) who is quite considerate and nice. But as the master's personal life takes a turn (for the better or the worse..not clear at all), so does his relationship with this bloke.

Though it is all hunky dory on the face, evil ambition starts to take a shape in this man’s mind. And one fine day, he ends his master’s life to run away with a “red’ suitcase filled with cash.

The tragedy of this book is its over simplification of the devilish act and how for no strong reason, mankind finds it easy to end one another’s life. Read it if you must, but it is eminently passable, other than a few nuances which are very indigenous……like the village bullies who are a caricature of our politicians, the overzealous grandmother in the backyard who fights for every penny but does not think twice before helping an extended family, the rickshaw puller with his veins standing out and many such characters.

It would help to have the protagonist’s character more defined, with a little more insight to what makes him the monster that he is. But few instances, where he stresses the need to have a belly to do well in life, or when he comes back to collect the small child that he has left in gurgaon, or his attitude towards the old folks who lost their child in the road accident are quite poignant and nicely sketched.

The moral degeneration of our society, as observed from our literature or movies, or the cruelties of our daily life, is quite disturbing. Be it the terrorist acts or the everyday torture that the innocents face, can only be stopped if individually and collectively we develop good ethics and a conscience.