Aravind Adiga books the Booker!

Spicezee Bureau

"Aravind Adiga`s ‘The White Tiger’ is one of the most powerful books I`ve read in decades. No hyperbole. This debut novel from an Indian journalist living in Mumbai hit me like a kick to the head.” - USA Today Although the book reviews outside India, hailed Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’ in the most glowing terms, the reaction back home was luke-warm. After all, who was Aravind Adiga before he claimed the Booker? Adiga was just an ordinary freelance journalist before he created history by winning the Man Booker Award for Fiction 2008 prize at a glittering ceremony in London`s Guildhall. On the other hand, rival Amitav Ghosh, one of the most prominent writers of India, was considered one of the strongest contenders for the award with his epic work ‘Sea of Poppies’.

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But as always, Booker declaration churned out a surprise win as little-known Aravind Adiga went on to claim the prestigious title – India’s fifth win after Indian-origin writers like VS Naipaul, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai brought laurels to the country. Aravind Adiga’s ‘The White Tiger’ is a tale of two Indias. Balram, the protagonist’s journey from darkness of village life to the light of entrepreneurial success is utterly amoral, brilliantly irreverent, deeply endearing and altogether unforgettable. Speaking at the award function, the 33-year-old former journalist said his book – the story of Balram Halwai, a village boy who becomes an entrepreneur through villainous means – aimed to highlight the needs of India`s poor.The book that is set against the backdrop of India`s growing wealth gap was described by the jury as revealing "the dark side of India". "It is a fact that for most of the poor people in India there are only two ways to go up - either through crime or through politics, which can be a variant of crime," Adiga said. "These people at the bottom have the same aspirations as the middle class - to make it in life, to become businessmen, to create business empires. They need to be given their legitimate needs - the schooling, the education, the health care - to achieve those dreams. If not, as I said, there are only two ways up: crime or politics." But Adiga added that although India has "an extreme divide between the rich and the poor", his book wasn`t a social commentary. "It`s an attempt to dramatise this and get it into literature. It`s meant to be a fun book and to engage its readers," said Adiga, who beat off competition from five other authors, including fellow Indian Amitav Ghosh, nominated for his "Sea of Poppies". Chairman of the jury, Michael Portillo said that Adiga – only the third debutant to claim the award in its 40-year-history – won because judges felt that his book "shocked and entertained in equal measure”. "The novel undertakes the extraordinarily difficult task of gaining and holding the reader`s sympathy for a thoroughgoing villain. The book gains from dealing with pressing social issues and significant global developments with astonishing humour." As the writer wrote `The White Tiger` while his stay in Delhi, he dedicated the prize to the city. "It`s a city that I love and a city that`s going to determine India`s future and the future of a large part of the world. It`s a book about Delhi, so I dedicate it to the people that made it happen," he said. Adiga had to face tough competition with other shortlisted authors - Steve Toltz of Australia ("A Fraction of the Whole"), Sebastian Barry of Ireland ("The Secret Scripture"), and British writers Linda Grant and Philip Hensher ("The Clothes on Their Backs" and "The Northern Clemency" respectively), but his win once again proved that India is shining on the literary front also. Kudos to Aravind Adiga, for making India proud!