Very Brief Summary of The White Tiger by Arvind Adiga

The white tiger novel published in 2008 by Indian young writer Arvind Adiga, which won him glittering Man Booker Prize of the year 2008. The novel presents India in quite different and unacceptable way and by and large this India would be unexpected by most Indians. The novel has simple plot that how a poor man from countryside becomes an entrepreneur in present globalizing India.

                                    The story is divided in six nights every night he tells the biography of an entrepreneur. Every night a narrator tells the story to a Chinese premier. The way of telling a story is quite different and innovative. In the first night the narrator is listening to the radio, and he listen that a Chinese premier Jiabao is coming to India to know the story of how entrepreneurs are growing in India. The narrator tells he himself is the best example of the entrepreneur.

While telling story Balram is narrating a nation by presenting a canvas on which all things occur. The picture of village which Balram depict is utterly poor, dry, polluted, untidy, filthy, unemployed people at tea stall, skinny people. This is quite realistic picture of Indian village but not necessarily all village of India are same. The education system he satirized by describing a bad habit of his school teacher like to spat on the classroom floor, other thing is how corruption works in education system that the teacher sales the uniforms in nearby village because he is not paid at regularly.

At the very beginning of the novel Balram tells that there are two India: an India of darkness and an India of light. He calls village a darkness and that of the city light. Similarly there are two kinds of Indian: Indian liquor man and English liquor men. While narrating his personal life Balram unfolds devastating account of have and have not as he says that they were only two castes in India people with big bellies and that of with small bellies. And there are only two destinies in India: eat or to beaten .

While un-folding the story of his success he reflects the darker sides of India which nobody will believe as the reality except for those who are living that kind of life. He presents the x- ray image of the deceased body which is rottening very far from the city life. For Balram there are two kinds of India, India is divided as two nations, India of darkness and India of light. The village is India of darkness and, the city is India of light.  

Balram was born in very remote village in Gaya district of Bihar. As a student he was very bright child, while telling about the schooling of Balaram Adiga satirizes educational institution in which a teacher did not pay his salary at time and thus the teacher sells the uniforms of students. So the bad habits of teachers like to chew pan and spit beside his chair- what students will learn from these type of teacher. One more irony is that when Balaram was admitted in school he has not particular name, name Balram is also given by his teacher, it means even the parents did not care about naming of the child. In school for the first time he was given the title of the white tiger by a officer who came to school for inspection. And from That day he was called white tiger.

Further revealing the story of Balram Halwai, Adiga satirizes religion, pointing at the temple at the center of the village. He describes Hanuman as "saffron colour creature", favourite god of half of the Indians, a ideal model of servitude. The irony of Indians is that their ideal or role model is servant, thus it's not easy to be free out from servitude.

Next he come to the landlord in village, he has given them name of animals according to their characteristics like Storks, Buffalo, old Boar. How they made more painful life of the poor in the village.

Politics is the part and parcel of the society and how can he forget to uncover it. Roothlessly Adiga satirizes the elections in darkness. India's largest corruption happens during these days. Lacs' and corrors of rupees are circulated from one place to another, which are stored only for elections, to buy votes. It is OK, but what about the voters who even don't know about the elections and somebody else voted on their names, as Balram said that perhaps he would be the most regular voter in every elections that occurred in darkness. For seats politicians do everything, in area of darkness election days would be like festivals as everybody get enough food and drinks, otherwise many has to sleep empty stomach. 

The land lords are very cruel and oppressive. How fake voting done in villages of India during election time, then describes the corrupt politicians, all rich people, and by giving example of himself that how he became an entrepreneur. That is what an India is for Balram. But the novel presents only a side of India that is not the whole India actually is. No doubt that this is reality in some parts of India. All rich people, all politicians, all teachers, all entrepreneur, and of course all the ruler and ministers are cheats, dishonest, and murderer as presented by Adiga. But there are some good person good souls and well political leaders who are honest and have good deal of humanity and morals, and uphold the truth. In fact these are some glimpses of India but not whole India.