Dinner & A Book - The White Tiger

Our protagonist, Balram Halwai is a complicated man: servant, lower caste in Indian society, philosopher, entrepreneur and murderer. Over 7 nights and in 7 letters to a Chinese premier, Balram tells us the terrible story of how he came to be a success in life--having nothing but his own wits to help him. Join me and my guest, Acorn Theater's artistic director, Kim Clark, as we discuss Booker award winning writer Aravind Adiga's "The White Tiger." We will also prepare some delicious dishes for the men with big bellies.

A brutal view of India's class struggles is presented in Adiga's debut about a racist, homicidal chauffer. Balram Halwai is from "the Darkness", those areas of rural India where education and electricity are equally scarce, and where India's downtrodden and unlucky are destined to rot. Balram manages to escape his village and move to Delhi after being hired as a driver for a rich landlord. Telling his story in retrospect, in a series of letters to the Premier of China, who is expected to visit India and whom Balram believes could learn a lesson or two about India's entrepreneurial underbelly. Adiga's existential and crude prose animates the battle between India's wealthy and poor as Balram suffers degrading treatment at the hands of his employers. His personal fortunes and luck improve dramatically after he kills his boss and decamps for Bangalore.