This one got the Man Booker Prize and hence the expectation is that it must be good, different perhaps. Different, it surely is ! It is the story of Balram Halwai who comes from a very poor family and his struggles through life as he is unable to be educated and break out of his destiny of being a servant. He is shackled by the caste and class bonds and whatever he does, wherever he reaches in life is solely on the basis of his own learning on the streets and crime too. Since the book is the story of his life and his rise, there is nothing rosy about it. It leaves one feeling uncomfortable with the threadbare and no-holds-barred description of the pathetic life led by so many people in our country. The corruption of the politicians, the callous attitude of the rich is well brought out. It is disturbing yet thought provoking. It won’t leave you feeling very good but it would surely leave you thinking.
That said, the book has a lot of stereotypes too. Also there are stark black and whites in the tale, people are either really bad or really good ( hardly any!). Surely, so many people would not have come up the hard way in our country if that was the case always. Just yesterday, I read that the World Bank has predicted that by 2015, around 320 million people in India (almost the population of the U.S) will still be living in abject poverty which is almost 25% of the population and this is one of the biggest failures of our country where mindless corruption and siphoning off public funds into the pockets of politicians and bureaucrats has meant that the poorest and the most vulnerable are left unprotected. We need more inclusive policies and better implementation in order not to have such huge social disparities. In that context, I feel the book drives home a point about the not so-shining part of India.
Overall, the book left me feeling uncomfortable because there is truth in it ! We see it happening around us everyday in India.