First time Author,The Man Booker prize.Wasn’t enough to stop me from buying it off the platform in Besant Nagar.It had an impressive cover and gray pages and the prelude was quite impressive;enough to catch my attention.
The novel is in the form of a series of letters written by a car driver turned entrepreneur(complete with a web portal for himself;technology drivers,he calls it) to the Chinese Premier,who is on a visit to India.The novel portrays the life of an average guy from a god forsaken,Landlord ruled village who transforms from a whizkid in school to a waiter in a teashop to a driver cum servant.His brains and aim to make it big desert him that he even neglects personal hygiene(lolz).
There are the author’s takes on the Ganga,India shining and India in the Dark and Indian Politics which are true.He also shows the typical NRI,in style.A well bred guy who is too innocent,has married against his dad’s wishes,has a bully for a brother and who is unable to digest the way India works(Rajini shivaji Style).A bollywood style car accident and the events following it and how Balram tackles it when it happens again is also thrown in.
The Indian Police Force is yet again belittled of being a fumbling group of corrupt,lazy men.The sentence that shook me most was when the protagonist(the villian?!!?) calls us,the southerners,Negros.Amounted to the kind of humiliation Jews were subjected to.The servant class is shown as being loyal to the teeth and Balram Halwai justifies the means to the end.After all,he has a family out there to suck his blood.The Water Buffalo IS a cute laughable character and the magazine the drivers read provide the sleaze content.
Balram’s talk of finding nirvaana looking at chandeliers is a cranky way of showing the streak of insanity in him.His thoughts when his cousin’s son blackmails him and the way he displaces the head driver in his master’s household are superb.
There are two sides to a coin and the author chose to tell us the dark side.IMHO,It is an overstatement of the obvious.Ironically,It will be the White and Brown men who will rule the world in twenty years.
Burning Embers 
I have heard enough of this kind of sentiments. Another stark example is how indian public reacted to the Slumdog Millionaire.
I ask….does the overstatement invalidate the existence of the observation that triggered the utterance of the overstatement in the first place? In this world of broadcast journalism, perceptions are realities to most of us. A NDTV, MTV watching, english speaking public will never accept the reality that exists underneath. We wish that we dont see it.
It can be statistically proved that the reality you claim has been overstated, is infact the most prevalent, and the most stark. Only that our mind is not wanting to see that. We have got engrossed into a state of stupefaction. We have started believing in the existence of a utopian world as we want to see it exist, and infact, stopped accepting the real world as it exists.
This is the effect of psychedelic journalism. We get tranced. Come out and see the slums. Come out and work with the poor. You will know what is the real india. We have dehumanised our kith and kin, in order to give sanction to our hypocritical existence.
I have worked with the real india. the statistically significant real india. Yes Madam. I feel for them. they deserve a better deal.
I rest my case.
@ karthik
Nice way of putting it.
Yes,the truth is glaring and stark.I have raised the argument that the book has portrayed what is happening around us in a distasteful manner.One need not provide solutions,neither do I want him to eulogize India,the truth needs to be told.But how?
It is much akin to noticing the difference between a nude model on the cover of a magazine and a nude painting by Gustav or Picasso.Perspective matters,doesn’t it?
I don’t belong to the group that watches MTV and comments on issues offhandedly and you were right about the slumdog part too.I hated it.
This book and the movie share a similarity in that they hoped to convey a message(one of utmost importance),the glitch lies in the masala they chose to add.
Through this post,I have conveyed my dislike for Adiga’s style and nothing more.
I welcome criticism.food for thought!
The defense rests.