Summary of Chapter 8

At the beginning of the last chapter, Balram explains how he maps out a plan to leave Delhi without being detected. He wants to take the train to Bangalore, but not the direct route, because is afraid that the police could see him.  His plan is to travel back home in a kind of zigzag route. 

The next thing to do was to wake up Dharam, who sleeps on the bed in Balrams room. Then they start their way to the train station. 

On the third day of travelling, Balram was at Hyderabad. While waiting for the next train he wants to buy a tea. When entering the shop he recognizes a wanted photo hanging on the wall showing him.  

When Balram and Dharam arrived at Bangalore, Balram starts to create his own taxi company with the name “White-Tiger-Driver”. The first months, he drives the car, later he hires new employees driving on his behalf. . Balram changes his name into “Ashok Sharma”, because of his illegal deals with corrupt police officers. As his drivers are working without a license, Balram appoints American people to drive the taxis.

 One day, one of his drivers had an accident with a boy on a bike. The boy died and his brother was a witness. Balram protected his driver in front of the police and again makes an illegal deal. So the police said that nobody was responsible for the accident. Balram felt guilty and went to the family of the boy to give them some cash. At this moment, Balram thinks about what happened with his family the last time.

While Balram thinks about his future, he explains to Mr. Jiabao, that in his opinion the end of the white man will come soon and in 20 years the colored and yellow people will rule the world. 

At least he himself makes plans for his own future. He does not want to run his taxi- business until he is old. He prefers a future in the real estate business, because he expects that many people from the United States will move to Bangalore building their new homes and offices in his home town.

 

At the end of the book, Balrams says, while closing his letter to the premier, that he was successful in breaking out of the Indian coop and for him personally it is the best experience ever not to be a servant anymore.

 I found and interesting link about the city Hyderabad,where Balram waits for the train....

Hyderabad-India

Here is an example for a police poster....

Police Poster

What I like/dislike in this Chapter?

I liked the decision of Balram, to travel away from his life as a servant, but that he killed Mr. Ashok was not good. What I don’t understand is, why Balram is proud of his own police poster. In my opinion I would be afraid of it.

I think it was not fair, that Balram defends his driver. The family is shocked, that one son died, but the police did nothing to punish the driver. This attitude is unbelievable.

 I´m not sure, why Balram has the opinion, that the yellows and colored people rein the world in 20 years. 

At the end of this Book “ The White Tiger”, I’m proud of Balram that he breaks out of the Indian coop, because not much servants can do that. He never give up, to fulfill his dream, to have a new life in another business.

 I liked the book "The White Tiger" from Aravind Adiga very much, because it showed the other sides of the life and that some people have dreams, which they want to fulfill. I also learned much about the indian country and his good and bad sides.

I hope, you enjoyed my reading diary.

Tim

 

Summary of Chapter 7

At the beginning of the chapter, Balram talks about the rich people in Delhi. They became fat, because the consuming too much food so they need to try to lose weight. On the other side, having millions of poor people, suffering from not having enough food to survive.. Every night the masters make an evening walk, while the servants stand around them with a bottle of water. There Balram meets the Vitiligo-Lips and asks him for a girl with golden hair.

Then he explains Mr. Jiabao different ways how to earn some extra money from the master. For example, when the master is not around he can siphon petrol from the car with a tube and a funnel and sell it. Or you can go to a corrupt mechanic if his master orders him to repair the car and gave him some money for work beforehand. Balram tells that he collects some money by doing these ashaming things. 

On a Sunday afternoon, Mr. Ashok tells Balram, that he doesn’t need him today, so Balram goes to the servant dormitory. There he meets the man again and gives him the money for the girl. When the man counts the money while standing in the parking lot, Balram tells him, that the girl is for himself and not for his master. The man gets proud of Balram, because he shows some ambition.

Then they drive to a hotel in South Extension and the man to the manager and say that his friend wants to have a golden-haired woman. He gives him the money and after that the manager takes Balram upstairs. The Vitiligo-Lips leaves the Hotel and drives away.

The Manager shows him the room with the girl. They enter the room and the girl sits on the bed. Balram sits next to her and they talk a little bit. Then they start to have sex. But after a few minutes Balram yells and starts to slap her, because she has dyed hair. The manager enters the room and Balram grabs him to get his money back. The situation ends with Balram leaving the hotel with a scratched and bruised face.

When Balram drives back to his home, he notices that somebody sits on his bed. It was Mr. Ashok. They talk a little bit and Mr. Ashok tells him, that he will give him another room to live like he lives. Mr. Ashok doesn't like his life any longer and wants to change some things. He starts his new life by eating some food of the servants together with Balram.

In the second part of the chapter Balram tells, that mongoose comes back to Delhi again to visit Mr. Ashok.  They talk about the divorce and he tells Mr. Ashok, that a divorced man in India isn´t respected. Mr. Ashok has to remarry another girl and not the Nepali. The mongoose gives him a bag full of money and says that Mr. Ashok has to go to the minister’s assistant, because the minister needs a lot of money for his election campaign.. While they wait in the traffic jam to drive back to the apartment, Balram gives a rupee to a child which sells some things to the car drivers. The Mongoose and Mr. Ashok get very angry about that, but then they are going on to talk about the divorce.

The next day, Balram drives the Mongoose and Mr. Ashok to the ministers assistant, to deliver the money bag, after that they have lunch in a hotel. Then Balram drives the Mongoose back to the railway station.

One day Balram drives Mr. Ashok to the Imperial Hotel. He thinks about his situation and about Mr. Ashok. After Mr. Ashok gets out of the car and goes to the hotel, Balram drives to the train station. He thinks about to steal the red bag with the money and go somewhere. But then he thinks about his family and what will happen to them if he would steal this bag full of money from his master.

On Sunday Balram has a free day and drives to the red-light district by bus. There are lots of people and some of them want to sell some things. He comes to a secondhand book market where many booksellers have their stalls. He reads in some books until he meets a Muslim who tells him something about poems and the Urdu language. After this conversation Balram goes to the older part of Delhi and sees that the city gets older and older and the air gets worse every day. Later he sees a buffalo, going his own way down the street, with no human on his side. Then a strange thing happened: In his imagination, the buffalo talks to Balram and says him, that his Cousin Kusum was kicked to death.

The next morning, Balram and Mr. Ashok sit in the car talking. Then Balram tells him, that he is going to marry a girl. Thereupon Mr. Ashok gives him one hundred rupee, with the statement, that Balram is a good member of the family. Mr. Ashok asks him, weither he marries in Laxmangarh and that he will come along at the wedding.

The next morning Balram walks out of Buckingham B onto the main road. He goes straight ahead into the slums. The construction workers live there in bad affairs. They build the malls and homes for the rich people. When he comes back to his room, Dharam the son of his aunt sits in his room with a letter from Kusum. Balrams aunt wrote that he is a bad guy because he does not send money to his family. She also wrote, that she found a wife for him to marry.. The aunt would send the wife to him if he wouldn't come home. He also had to care about Dharam. When Balram reads the letter, he gets angry and slaps Dharam.  Balram tells Mr. Ashok, that his family sends him a helper and Mr. Ashok accepts it.

One day Mr. Ashok gives Balram a day off. He asks Mr. Ashok, weither he can visit the zoo with Dharam. In the zoo they see the animal which gets born only once in every generation - the white tiger. Balram analyzes his movements and later he falls into faint. That evening, Balram wants Dharam to write a letter to his aunt Kusum on his behalf. He wants to tell her what happened at the zoo, as well as saying goodbye to his grandmother.

One morning Balram drives Mr. Ashok from one bank to the other, because he needs money for the red bag. On their way back, Balram stops the car. He says that there is a problem with one of the tires. He checks at it asks Mr. Ashok to get out of the car to help him. At first Mr. Ashok do not wants to leave the car, but after a while he opens the door. He goes down on his knees to help Balram fixing the tire. Balram takes the bottle that he brought along and hits Mr. Ashok on his head. He drags the dead body into the bushes, jumps into the car and drives to the train station, where Dharam waits for him.

What I like/dislike in this chapter?

I was surprised, when Balram told, which methods the servants have to earn some extra money. Here you can see the dark side of India. Balram described bad things like violence, dealing with drugs and the prostitution. I can understand, why Balram got angry, when he read the letter of kusum. But it´s not fair to his Dharam,because of this letter. I first thought,that Balram steals the money bag at the first time, but I didn´t expected an end of this chapter like this. Balram killed his master in a bad way, just with a bottle. It´s also unbelievable, that Balram is not sure to get away with Dharam together. I think that Balram didn´t made a right decision, to kill Mr. Ashok, because I had the feeling that the connection between them got better and better.

I found an interesting link about the divorced people in india and how they get treaten...

Divorced People in India 

Here I found an nice picture from the bookmarket, where Balram talked with a muslim...

That´s another picture of the red-light district in india. There dominates the prostitution..

 

Have a nice holiday,

see you

Tim

Summary of Chapter 6

One morning Mr. Ashok wants Balram drive him to the Sahara Mall. At the mall, Balram wonders, what Mr. Ashok was doing all the time in the mall while he waits. When he comes back, Balram has to drive him to the Sheraton Hotel.  While driving to the hotel, Balram notices how Delhi changed this night. He notices all these new hotels he will never enter, because of his caste. When they arrive at the hotel, Mr. Ashok gets out of the car and Balram joins the man with the skin disease, who sits next to the hotel. They talk about servants and how long they are useful.

Then the microphone of the hotel, calls Balram, because Mr. Ashok wants to leave the hotel. He steps out of the building, with a woman in his arm. They drive to the PVR Saket, a large cinema located in the heart of Delhi. While Balram sits under a tree and waiting for his master, a woman comes along and asks him for three rupees. He tells her that he is not one of the rich people and says that she should leave him alone. Later a knife-grinder comes setting- up his stall right next to the tree. Balram gets angry, when the man starts to work on his machine. When the movie was over, Balram drives Mr. Ashok and the Nepali back to the apartment.

The next morning, Balram wonders why Mr. Ashok does not call him. He takes the elevator to the apartment and rings the bell. When he hears some noise, Balram puts his ear close to the door and hears a conversation between the two. He finds out, that the Nepali was former mistress of Mr. Ashok. Then Mr. Ashok gets a call, for a meeting with the minister. The Nepali wants to take a taxi back.

In the evening Balram has to drive Mr.Ashok from one bank to another, to collect money from the machines. Then they drive to a big house in the Ashoka Road. Mr. Ashok takes the bag full of money, gets out of the car and enters the minister`s bungalow. After a while Mr. Ashok enters the car together with a minister`s assistant. They drink some whiskey and talk about the divorce from Pinky Madam. Mr. Ashok tells the assistant, that he was always faithful towards his wife.

At the end of the chapter they drive to the Greater Kailash where the assistant gets out of the car coming back together with a girl.  Balram needs to drive all three to a hotel. . After a half an hour Mr. Ashok comes back and Balram drives him to his apartment. Mr. Ashok looks really ill.

What I like/dislike?

I found it interesting, how Mr. Ashok changed his behavior,but i´m not sure,why he changed it. I can understand the reaction of Balram, when he just relaxed a little and then somebody annoyed him. I thinks it´s normal, that he get angry in this situation. I dont like the part, when the assistent and Mr. Ashok take a girl to have some fun. I think thats definitely not fair compared to the women. I really dont like,what the man with the skin disease said about older servants and how they get treaten. There you can see the, that these servants have an inhuman life.

I found and interesting link about the "Greater Kailash"... 

 The Greater-Kailash 

Here is a nice picture of the Sheraton Hotel in Delhi.....

 See you,

Tim 

Summary of Chapter 5

Balram starts to tell something about the inventions of India. He doesn’t mean inventions like the Internet, he means for example the Rooster Coop. Thousands of Chickens are kept in small cages, pecking at and shitting on each other.  But they don’t try to get out of these Coops. Balram connects this story with the situation of the people in his country.

In Delhi many people work as a cycle-rickshaw. They have to deliver furniture to peoples home and then ride back to their boss and give them their money, without earning one single rupee.  The life of a servant in India is the same like a chicken in a Coop. They just want to do everything for their family and earn enough money to live. Only people, who see that their family is in danger, seriously threatened by others break out of the coop.

After this mention, he continues telling his story. He remembers a sign, he saw in a zoo which reads “Imagine you being in the cage”. It was placed close to the cage of the white tiger. He thinks that he is able to do so, so he goes home to his room to give it a try. He stays a whole day in his room sitting in a mosquito net, pulled up his legs to his chest. It was like he was trapped in the Rooster Coop. As Balram stays in his room, the man with the skin disease enters and ask him, weither everything is ok.

Then Balram goes up to the apartment of his master. The Mongoose opens the door and tells him, that the father is there. It was Stork. While Balram enters the room, the Stork is sitting on the couch. Later Mr. Ashok and the Stork tell Balram, that they have contacts to the police and they told them, that nobody observed the accident. Pinky Madam gets angry, runs into her room and slams the door.  A few days later, Balrams drives the Stork and the Mongoose to the railway station, to travel back to their home Dhanbad.

At night, Balram wakes up, because somebody stands in his room. It was Pinky Madam. She tells him to bring her to the airport. When they arrive a few minutes later, Pinky Madam leaves the car without saying a word.

The next morning Mr. Ashok calls Balram to his apartment and asks him, why he has not told him, that he brought his wife to the airport last night. Then Mr. Ashok grabs Balram and pushes him against the balcony. Balram gets frightened and kicks him in the chest. Mr. Ashok starts to cry and Balram runs to his room. Later the other servants ask him what happened, but Balram doesn’t answer their questions.

The next day Balram waits for the bell to ring, but nothing happens. In the afternoon he goes to the apartment and does his work. In the evening he goes to the apartment again, to see whether something happened to his masters. When Balram sees the open door, he goes into the apartment and see Mr. Ashok lying on the ground with a bottle of whiskey. He carries him into his bed. During the following days, Mr. Ashok is drunk every day. After a week, Mr. Ashok tells him, that they both have a special connection as a servant and his master.

One day, the Mongoose comes back from Dhanbad and tells, that Pinky Madam, don’t want to come back. He says that it´s the best way, when she leaves him. At the diner, the Mongoose takes a letter out of his pocket. The letter is from the granny of Balram. In the letter Kusum asks Balram for more money for the wedding of Kishan. 

At the end of this chapter, Balram tells to the premier, that the Rooster Coop is doing his work. Servants have to keep other servants from becoming experimenters or innovators. That‘s the sad truth in the live as a servant

What I like/dislike in this chapter?

I think it´s very hard,that the servants in India are compared with Chickens in a Rooster Coop. They have to follow the rules nobody can become an experimeter or innovator to get out of these Coops. I liked the situation,when Mr. Ashok tells Balram,that they have an important conncetion. I think it was a good idea from Pinky Madam to leave her husband. They dont fit together I think. 

I found an interesting link about the Rooster Coops in India... 

Rooster Coop in India 

Here is a  picture from a Coop...

 See you, 

Tim

Summary of Chapter 4

In the beginning of this chapter Balrams talks about Delhi. He shares some facts about this city and the pride of their civic planning and the showcase of the republic.  The rich people live in big housing colonies like Defense Colony or Greater Kailash, but they have no logic system of numbering the houses. Balram remembers about a story, when he had to take Pinky Madam to one of these housing colonies. But he doesn’t find the right apartment because of the illogic number-system. Then he tells something about the street names in Delhi. When you ask somebody where you can find the street you are looking for, nobody knows the right answer. The traffic system is designed in a way that the phase where car-drivers or pedestrians need to stop is relatively short. As a consequence many people ignore the rules, say walk or drive whenever they want. Balram also explains that in Delhi many poor people need to live on the streets as they do not have a job, no money and nobody being able or willing to help them.

While waiting in front of the mall a man asks Balram how he likes Delhi. He doesn’t want to get touched by this man, because he has a skin disease. Especially many of the very poor people in India are suffering from this skin disease. 

The servants have to wait outside the mall for their masters while they go on a shopping-trip. They smoke and chat all the time. He also mentions that the police in Delhi are totally rotten in this city. The man tells Balram something about a magazine called “Murder weekly“, they read while they are waiting for their servants.

Later Mukesh Sir, Mr. Ashok and Pinky Madam come outside the mall with shopping bags. Balram puts them into the car and drives them to their apartment building, Buckingham Block B. It’s one of the best Blocks in Delhi. After he leaves the bags in the apartment he goes down to the basement to his room in the servant quarters. Then he meets the man with the skin disease again, sitting with the other servants together in the quarter. 

The next day, Balram cleans his Honda City while waiting for the next job his master Mr. Ashok wants him to do. Then he gets advised via the lobby microphone to wait with his car at the main entrance of Buckingham B Block. Pinky Madam and Mr. Ashok, joined by the Mongoose, have a Congress Party at the headquarters. After ten minutes, Balram arrives at the headquarter. The brothers tell Balram that they are back in half an hour.

Two hours later, the brothers return. They say that they have to go to the president house. While waiting in his car Balram observes that the brothers together with a huge fat man leave the building talking to each other. On their way home Mr. Ashok said only one sentence. In his view the political system in India is a nothing else then a joke.

After an hour of trashing the traffic, they got home. When they get out of the car the Mongoose misses one rupee being of the opinion that Balram got it. He has to search for it. When Balram assesses that he can´t find the rupee, he takes one of his pocket and gives it to the mongoose.

When Balram sees that Mr. Ashok get verge the tears, while he makes food for him in the apartment, he knows that something is wrong.

The next morning Mr. Ashok tells him to drive Mukesh Sir to the railway-station. At the station Mukesh Sir gives him some instructions about the actions of the police and what he is not allowed to do in the car. After that the Mongoose turns to Mr. Ashok and tells him to check up the driver, but Mr. Ashok doesn’t pays attention to his brother.

In the second part of this chapter, Balram talks about a night, when he drunk some alcohol in an English liquor shop. Next morning, when he came back to the apartment in the Buckingham Block, Pinky Madam recognizes that Balrams seems to be ill. She advises him to make some tea, because of his headache. Pinky Madam gets very angry, when she notices that Balram scratches his groin with the hand while making tea. She sends him to his room, because he looks pretty bad.

The next evening, Balram drives Pinky Madam and Mr. Ashok to the mall. When they arrive there, Balram gets out of the car and sees the man with the skin diseases again. There are many other servants, waiting for their masters like Balram and the man. They talk about the magazine “Murder Weekly“. While waiting, Balrams sees a man with sandals who wants to go into the mall, but the security guards don’t let him in. One of the servants said, that everybody should behave like this man did, then India would be a safe country.

After their return Balram goes to the local market and buys his first toothpaste, white t-shirt and black shoes. When he drives Pinky Madam to the mall the next day, he tries to see the mall from inside by wearing his new clothes. He is lucky as the guards allow him to enter the mall. After getting some inspirations of the mall, he goes back to the car and changes his dress into the casual one.

The third part of the Chapter starts, whit Balram sitting in the car together with Mr. Ashok and Pinky Madam. Pinky Madam gets angry because of the chaos on the streets and the traffic jam. Mr. Ashok tries to get her down and then they start to argue about their travel to Delhi. At this point Balram thinks that Mr. Ashok is a good husband, because he always tries to make her happy. Balram starts telling the Premier a story, when both of them were kids laughing at him all the time. At the evening he goes to the bedroom of his master, because he heard some slapping followed by screaming. Half an hour later, when Balram wants to sleep, another servant yells for him. He has to take both of them with the car to the Connaught Place. On their way to this place, there was an icy silence between Pinky Madam and Mr. Ashok.

 At the Connaught Place, the two leave the car and Balram meets the men with the disease together with some other servants. They make a fire while waiting. When the two come back they were drunk. Balram drives both of them back to their apartment. On their way home, Pinky Madam wants to drive the car, but Mr. Ashok doesn’t let her. At the traffic signal a child comes to their car, with a Buddha statue in his hand. Balram likes it and Pinky Madam asks him, if he wants to have this sculpture, but he doesn’t want it. When Balram wants to drive away, Pinky Madam says that he should stop, get out off the car and spend the night with the Buddha. After Pinky Madam gets in the driver seat, they drive away and Balram stands alone in the dark and empty street. A bit later, a car crosses the street, it’s the car from Mr. Ashok, they pick him up and Balram sits on the back seat.  Pinky Madam is too drunk to realize the situation, as a black thing hit the car. She asks what it could have been but Balram and Mr. Ashok work as a team and put her on the backseat. Balram gets in the driver seat and drives them with full speed back to her apartment. 

At the apartment, they grab her and place her into the elevator with a scarf around her mouth to stop her screaming. Then Balrams asks Mr. Ashok what it could have been that has hit the car, as Balram thinks that it could have been a child. After this conversation, they go to sleep.

The next morning Mr. Ashok wants to talk about the situation last night. Mr. Ashok wants Balram, to write a paper saying that it was Balram driving the car while the accident on the street happened. Balram can´t believe what Mr. Ashok asks him to do. For him this situation is a fucking joke.

What I like/dislike in this chapter?

What I dont unterstand in the first part of the chapter is,why they have no logic numbering system of the appartments in Delhi.The people get lost in this system. What I really disliked was the situation,when the servants had to wait outside the mall because they wear sandals and so they were not allowed to enter the mall.That´s definitely not fair.I found it interesting,when Balram describes his place,where he live as a servant.I think that´s a very strange daily routine,to live in this quarters and work all the time for their masters.It makes me sad,when I read,that the poor people live on the streets and are handled like trash. They get no money from the state,when they don´t work,so it´s very hard to feed their families. I was surprised when Balram told,that he bought his first toothpaste ever.That shows me that you earn not much money  as a servant. At the end I was kind of shocked,as I read the situation,when Pinky Madam hit a small black thing with the car, but they undertakes nothing. Another thing I can´t believe was, when Mr. Ashok told him,that Balram  has to say, that he made the accident.

I found an interesting link,about the quarters,where the servants live... 

Servant Quarters in India 

I have a picture from one of these servant quarters...

Here is an other picture from an traffic jam in india,like Balram tells about it in the chapter...

 

 See you,

Tim