Jan 13, 2009 01:27 PM
1419 Views
I was quite excited at the prospect of reading a book which focussed on conflict between two Indias. I was long waiting for a notable coverage on the subject as the media proclamation of ‘Shining India’ was irritating to speak mildly(disgusting would be more appropriate term). And No! unlike many others, I have no issues if someone brings dirty secrets of our home to public domain as I believe unless that is done, the dirt will never be cleaned. The fact that the writer has won the Booker for the book was an added incentive to read it.
But Alas! What a disappointment! From style to content – Mr. Adiga fails on all counts. How such a piece could find a reputed publisher was the first question that popped up in my mind. The bigger question, of course, was how this work got the coveted Booker? It is time we know how these honours are bestowed as obviously they carry immense commercial significance.
Now the Book. Let it be very clear that this is not about two Indias as the author claims. Rather it is about transformation of human mind from compliance to betrayal. Of course there is talk of class differences and poverty but where in the world you would not find drivers having lifestyle that is inferior to that of his employer? China?
The author also tried to cover areas like communalism, corruption and class conflict but the incidents which covered these issues lacked depth.
Perhaps Mr. Adiga would have been much more credible had he written the story on anguish of an employee on his boss. It too would have found a universal appeal as do we not all hate our bosses(for varied reasons) at some time or the other? But then, the Book might not have received the hype it did for being on India and its false start as economic superpower.
And poverty has been mentioned just as a passing reference. Here at least I expected a more sympathetic account. Apparently, Mr. Adiga only had only imagination as his aid when he wrote about the darker side of India. The generalisations he made about rural family and their values may impress the westerners but to the Indians who had experienced it in our life, it looks rather amusing. The author also made a mockery of geography of India when he treated Bangalore, Dhanbad and New Delhi as neighbouring cities. Now, if you want to take creative liberties, why not do that with imaginary cities(like Malgudi) rather than the real ones?
Lastly, the language. Perhaps Mr. Adiga played a clever trick here by trying to hide his weakness – you do not expect a rural driver to write in polished English. But, the language in which the protagonist speaks is hardly the language of rural India either(even after allowing concession for translation). Perhaps the jury got impressed with the language because of the novelty value.
So, in a nutshell if this book represents the best literacy work in English literature for the year, I better switch over to regional languages of India. Every year at least thousand books with higher literary merit gets written and published in India.
