Page 129 - DENG503_INDIAN_WRITINGS_IN_LITERATURE

Unit 16: Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger—Detailed Study

Balram’s granny recommends to keep the job in the tea shop. But Balram starts to search for a taxi Notes
driver, who should train him how to drive. In his letter he also describes the job situation in India,
that many people are unemployed as they have not received any education, never had a change to
find a proper job.
Balram and Kishan go to a house, where many taxi drivers live. After several failures he finds a
driver willing to teach him, but in return he needs to repair the taxi driver’s car. After he finished
has training he asked the Landlord Thakur Ramder for a job. This man tests Balram’s skills.
The First Night Balram writes an email to the Chinese Prime-minster Mr. Jiabao who wants to visit
Bangalore to get to know the truth about living in it. He tells about his life and describes his village
Laxmangarh which is in the district of the rural Gaya. It’s famous for the national history because
some people say Buddha walked through it and close by it he got his enlightenment.
Balram calls himself half-baked because he never completed school and is half-educated. Therefore
his ideas are half formed, half digested and half correct and he even gets his name by his teacher
due to the fact that his parents just named him “munna”, which means boy. The teacher backs him
up and calls him “The white tiger” considering that the white tiger is the rarest animal in the
jungle and appears only once in a generation.
His home hasn’t got electricity or a water tap but a buffalo which is better fed by the women than
the men. Balram talks about his dad who is a hard working rickshaw-puller and his mom who
died and was set on fire by a priest on Mother Ganges. Later on his brother Kishan fetches him to
go to the tea shop and since this day schooling is finished for him and he has to work in the shop.
Through the chapter there are parts of a poster which describe Balram as a suspect because he has
killed his master Mr. Ashok.
During the second night Balram thinks about his working for Mr. Ashok. After his father died of
tuberculosis his brother Kishan takes care of him and marries one month later. Nevertheless
Balram and Kishan pack off to Dhanbad with their cousin Dilip. They all get work in a teashop but
Balram is fired because of spying on every customer in the shop. Therefore he is interested in
becoming a car-driver. Moreover he would earn much money but he isn’t able to pay for the
driving lessons. Kishan and Dilip hand down good news to him because his grandmother, who
asks for remembering her if he gets rich, agrees to invest in the lessons. Besides Balram has to send
every rupee he earns back. His teacher is very strict and slaps him each time Balram makes a
mistake nevertheless he is satisfied with him in the end and he takes him to a firework as reward.
After Balram has finished his lessons he searches for a household which needs a driver. Although
he was not as successful as he has expected he keeps trying and is accepted finally after he tells his
new masters Mr. Ashok, the Stork and Mukesh Sir he’s from Laxmangarh. He makes a driving test
in a Maruti Suzuki with them. Balram doesn’t want any money from his masters but they want
him to accept it. In the household of Mr. Ashok, Mukesh Sir and the Stork he is treated very well.
There is always enough food, he gets a uniform and he shares a room with another servant, called
Ram Parsad. In contrast to Ram who has a bed to sleep Balram has to lay on the floor, but for him
it is much better than sleeping on the road.
Ram is the number one driver but if he is busy Balram is allowed to drive his masters instead of
making tea or sweeping the floor. Because the masters like to drink whiskey Ram and Balram
have to buy the most expensive one in the English liquor shop, ‘Jackpot’. One morning Mr.
Ashok’s wife Pinky Madam, who actually plays badminton with her husband, knocks on Balram’s
door and likes to play with him but in contrast to Ram he’s very bad in it.
Mr. Ashok wants his servants to move in another room, a better one with two separated beds and
more privacy. He even tells Balram he was also born in Laxmangarh and orders to drive him and
his wife to his birthplace. Pinky Madam thinks about a return date in New York because she

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