The White Tiger

OK, so I admit it… my wife is smart.  Last night I started listening to a new book on tape.  The reader was super fast but with an Indian dialect so I didn’t think anything of it.  She said it sounds like it is sped up.  It wasn’t until the last few minutes while at work that I played it from my office that it was completely different and slower!  No wonder I got through this new book so fast.  It is interesting I picked up The White Tiger yesterday as I had the chance to have brunch at a really close NYU friend’s home, who happens to be of Indian descent and we discussed the caste system in India.  Well, guess what The White Tiger is about... the caste system in India.  The book is clearly a “dark comedy” reflecting the current day system in place.  Balram, the protagonist telling the story, is at the lowest level in the “food chain” and works his way to become a servant of a wealthy Indian man, serving as his personal driver.  We learn of the experiences of humiliation that some servants face in India as a driver, “when I am not in the car, leave the AC off, I want you to track your mileage so I know you aren’t cheating me, no heat in the car when I am not there in the winter”... you get the point.  Balram actually works for a pretty nice wealthy man, though he does forget at points (after a drunken night on the town with his wife) to be decent in terms of G-rated play with his wife in the back seat.  There are some laughs among the absurdity of it all.  Finally Balram realizes the only way out of his sad life is to kill his boss by slashing him to death with a bottle of Johnny Walker Red.  Hmmm, I don’t know how anyone can drink that stuff.  Not for me for sure!  And it looks like he will get away with the murder, taking the money from the pocket of the deceased boss.  He ends up at the top of the caste system with the money he has taken and starts his own taxi service in Bangalore where he has escaped.  An interesting tale illustrating one man’s belief of the “flawed” democratic system.  Balram suggests that socialism would be a better way to go.  I guess if one doesn’t experience what Balram has you might not think democracy works.  The more I read about Indian culture the more I wonder if there isn’t a serious problem.  Others thoughts on this?  Love to hear.  Gave me lots to think about.  If you like dark humor, you’ll like this one!