Publisher: HarperCollins India.  Copyright 2008, 2009.  321 pages

I heard about this book from a girl that is on one of the local sports teams I practice with.  She said that it and Shantaram were her two favorite books about India.  Having just finished Shantaram, I added it to my ‘to-read’ list, and then stumbled across a copy on the loaner bookshelf at work. 

The story is written from the perspective of an Indian from a lower caste who manages to get hired as driver/servant for a member of India’s upper class aristocracy.    In this line of work, he is exposed to the darkness and corruption of greed and a corrupt political and economic system.  At the end of the book, he takes an extreme measure to break the bonds of what he calls the “rooster coop.”   This is a metaphor for the world of India’s poor, one in which escape from their situation – both caste and economic – is rendered impossible. 

What we get throughout the story is a completely different view of the world: that of the lower caste poor who live in the rural areas and have close to zero options for upward mobility in society.  Additionally, they are subjugated by and subject to the corrupt power of the rich.   He refers to rural India as “the darkness,” where the light of modern society does not reach.  In the darkness, life is full of mud, shit, suffering, illness, and an amorality that is in stark contrast to the external perception that the outside world has of a spiritually enlightened Indian village.  Survival trumps morality.  Family loyalty trumps opportunity and ambition.    Adherence to caste norms trumps pragmatism.   Life is a closed-loop cycle of futile struggles, ones that are passed down from generation to generation.

Balram leaves his home village with his brother in search of work,  and through a combination of circumstances, luck, and initiative,  he gets hired as a servant/driver for an upper-class family.   Given his place in life at the time, he feels he has “made it.”  However, things change.  I will make just two comments on the story:  

1. While the author describes himself as a rooster in the coop, his master (Mr. Ashok) is just as much trapped in the system as Balram.  Mr. Ashok is a man who recognizes the corruption of the system he is in, but lacks the courage or will to break away from it.   He spirals morally and psychologically as his marriage and finances crumble.  In his effort to survive and remain aligned with the politicians with power, we see his soul whither.  Balram, although he respects Mr. Ashok (who is kind at heart), sees this too and becomes disillusioned by the situation he witnesses.  His boss has all the money in the world (from Balram’s perspective) but is absolutely miserable and in a sense also a rooster in the coop.
2. However – Balram views himself as an outlier, slightly different from the other roosters.   To use the other metaphor, he is a white tiger – a rare beast born once in a generation.  This seed is planted when he is a boy and impresses a visiting administrator, who gives him the “white tiger” nickname.    This seed germinates and grows as he grows into a man and feels increasingly wronged and trapped.  One day he sees a literal white tiger in the Delhi zoo, trapped and walking back in forth in the cage just to stay sane.  This is a profound moment – Balram sees himself in that tiger; going through the motions of his caste/role jut to stay sane.   It is at this point that he decides to try to break out of the coop.  I’ll cut off my comments here, so as to not spoil the story. 

This is a short read, and super interesting.  The author manages to tell a story that feels light/upbeat on the surface, but underneath is a very dark view both of Indian society, and of human nature.  But somehow it doesn’t have a dark feel; the writing is colorful and moves along at a good pace.  There are zinger quotes scattered throughout.  And I really like seeing the world through Balram’s eyes, which really highlights the fact that our experience shapes how we see the world. The narrative style is conversational, like Balram talking to you like a friend. 

 As a format perk, the story is nicely broken up by text breaks every few pages, so there are obvious stop points [A pet peeve of mine is when authors/publishers don’t provide these, and instead we have to break the flow of the story to put the book down].  

Like Shantaram, this is probably more interesting if you have personal experience in India.  But, also like Shantaram, it’s a hell of a story even if you can’t find India on a map.