Comparison - The White Tiger and Slumdog Millionaire

After having seen Slumdog Millionaire and having read over 200 pages of the book The White Tiger I can say it’s hard not to see the similarities.

Obviously, both of the stories take place in India. They are both victims of the poor societal system in India; Jamal being tortured and Balram being treated like a slave in the family he works for.  A difference that I noticed was that the goals and dreams of the two boys were always different. In The White Tiger Balram dreamt all his life of becoming something successful and making something of himself. Jamal, on the other hand, lived his life focusing on finding the love of his life – Latika. He applied to be on the show be cause he was hoping that Latika would be watching him in the show – not to win the money.  

Ian Nachemson

My first impression of The White Tiger

One week ago I started reading The White Tiger, written by Aravind Adiga. It caught me immediately. The fact that it's funny makes it easy to read although the language can be hard to understand at times. I like how the book starts like a letter and continues with this theme, even though it has a story going on parallell with the letter. You read it from the perspective of Balram, an Indian entrepreneur, whose life started in the village of Laxmangarh, in the Darkness. You get to follow his childhood briefly. How he worked at the tea shop and desperately wanted to have a job as a chauffeur. But what he wanted most of all - to get to wear a uniform. He eventually got the job and seems to be doing it really well. The relation between Mr. Ashok (the employer) and Balram is good but still the book tells you that Balram ultimately decides to kill Mr. Ashok. This made me very curious of how the story will continue and why their relation, probably, will change so dramatically.

The fact that he writes the letter to the Premier makes you wonder: Why him and why to China? I guess I'll find out in time...

Ian Nachemson