White Tiger notes

White Tiger

Aravind Adiga

I. THE FIRST NIGHT

• Letter to Wen Jiabao, Premier’s Office, Beijing, Capital of the Freedom, by The White Tiger, a thinking man, an entrepreneur, living in the world’s center of technology and outsourcing electronics city, Phase I, Bangalore, India

• His late employer: Mr. Ashok

• Ashok’s ex-wife: Pinky Madam

• Current time: 11:42 pm

• 11:32 pm = Lady on All India Radio said that Jiabao is coming to Bangalore next week

• All India Radio isn’t reliable

• Mr. Jiabao is on a mission – to know the truth about Bangalore. He wants to meet Indian entrepreneurs and hear their success story

• China > India but China has no entrepreneurs

• Indian entrepreneurs run USA now

• 11:37 pm = he said the English word taught by Pinky Madam

• He likes/admires China

• Exiting Tales of the Exotic East = where he read about China

· Only nations he admires: China, Afghanistan and Abyssinia, because they never let themselves be ruled

· Future depends on the yellow and brown men

· White men wasted themselves with cellphones, etc.

· He tells his life story

· He didn’t have formal education

· 4 greatest poets: Rumi, Iqbal, Mirza Ghalib, Someone he forgot

· Office: 150 ft² with a chandelier, midget fan

· Curse: Entrep has to watch his business all the time

· English phrase: What a fucking joke

· “786” would flash before a movie starts = Muslim’s magic number (god) OR a woman in a white sari with gold sovereigns = Lakshm (Hindu)

· Muslims have 1 god + Hindus have 36,000,000 gods + Christians have 3 gods + Buddha = 36,000,005 gods

· 11:02 pm = start of story

· One day, while driving, Mr. Ashok tested his intelligence

· Mr. Ashok said he’s half-baked (can read and write but can’t understand it)

· Tragedy of India: entrust parliamentary democracy on half-baked people

· “Autobiography of a Half-Baked Indian”

· Poster he found 3 years ago in a train station in Hyderabad when he’s traveling with a red bag from Delhi to Bangalore

· Name: Balram Halwai alias Munna

· Son of Vikram Halwai, rickshaw puller

· Age: between 25-35

· Complexion: Blackish

· Face: Oval

· Height: 5’4”

· Build: thin, small

· First day in school, name = Munna (“boy”)

· Paan: red stuff that they chew

· Teacher named him Balram, sidekick of god Krishna which is also the name of the teacher

· Origin: suspected to come from Laxmangarh

· Darkness: caused by black river; fertile place, full of rice fields, wheat fields, ponds, lilies, lotuses, water buffalos

· Light: caused by ocean

· Black river = Mother Ganga; full of rich dark, sticky mud

· Mother Gangas, daughter of the Vedas, river of illumination, protector, breaker of the chain of rebirth and birth

· Kusum (granny) = sly, old, cunning, no teeth, habit of rubbing her forearms when happy; she controlled the house

· Mother’s funeral: Kusum lead, father and brother (Kishan) carried the front, uncles (Munnu, Jayram, Divyram, Umesh) carried the other end

· Mom’s body wrapped with saffron silk cloth covered in rose petals and jasmine garlands

· Grandness of funeral = guilt of the family for your miserable life

· Aunts: Rabri, Shalini, Malini, Luttu, Jaydevi, Ruchi

· Pyre: priest set body on fire

· Thick and black mud held his mom back from resisting

· Black mud is the real god of Benaras (holiest city); everything died, decayed, reborn, died into again

· 1^st time he fainted

· Laxmangarh

o Bodh Gaya: Buddha’s tree of enlightenment; just a few miles from Laxmangarh

o Image of Hanuman inside the temple = half-monkey, half-man and faithful servant of Rama

o Worshipping a monkey who is an example of how to serve your masters with absolute fidelity, love and devotion = reason why it’s hard to win one’s freedom

o Defunct electric poles, broken water tap, lean and short children

o Water buffalo: most important member of the family

o Black Fort

o India has never been free

· Blue checkered polyester shirt, orange polyester trousers, maroon colored sandals (false)

· Father: Vikram Halwai, rickshaw puller

· Rickshaw pullers not allowed to sit on plastic chairs for customers

· Father stood but didn’t crouch

· Pullers line outside when the Buffalo arrives

· ANIMALS:

· Buffalo = landlord; name from peculiarities of appetite; bald, brown, dimpled head, serene, but has a shotgun; greediest (ate up rickshaws and roads); took 1/3 of each puller’s wage

· Stork = fat man, fat mustache that’s thick, curved and pointy; owned river, got a cut of every catch of fish; set a toll for every boatman

· Wild Boar = agricultural landlord; has 2 long curved teeth (tusks); brother of the Stork

· Raven = worst land; dry, rocky hillside; took a cut from goatherds; if they didn’t give, he’ll dip his beak into their backsides

· All lived in the landlords’ quarters

· Sent their children to Dhanbad/Delhi since the Buffalo’s son got kidnapped by Naxals

· Men would go to the cities to work but a month before the rains, they return and their wives steal their money

· Favorite body part = depression in pit of the neck

· Father didn’t want to work for the landlords

· Balram feared lizards. He fainted (2^nd time) when he saw one at school

· Father wanted Balram to finish school – be a man

· Vijay, the bus conductor in a khaki uniform, silver whistle, red cord, is a man = 1^st entrep he knew of

· Father killed the lizard at school

· 2:00 am of Sept. 9 at Dhaula Kuan in New Delhi, near the Maurya Sheraton hotel = setting of murder/crime

· Has a red bag with a certain quantity of cash = 700,000 rupees

· School teacher stole students’ lunch money from the government because he didn’t get his salary for 6 months

· Surprise inspection by a man in a blue sarafi suit

· The Great Socialist = plump man with spiky white hair with thick gold earrings; most important man in their lives[ says that any man can grow up to be a prime minister

· Balram == White Tiger (rarest animal that comes only once in a generation)

· Inspector granted him a scholarship

· Gave him “Lessons for Young Boys from the Life of Mahatma Gandhi”

· Reena (cousin-sister) got married; family gave husband a new bike, cash, silver bracelet and took care of the big wedding

· Family had a big loan from the Stork for the big wedding

· All members should work for the Stork now

· Kishan and Balram worked at a teashop

· Balram broke coals

· Kishan had to be taken away from school too when cousin-sister Meera got married

· Entrep’s prerogative = break the law of his land (bad news to good news)

· Time: almost 3:00 am

· They remain slaves because they can’t see what is beautiful in this world – Iqbal (Muslim)

· 24 years old = went back to Black Fort when Mr. Ashok visited Laxmangarh

· He spat repeatedly on Laxmangarh

· 8 months later, he slit Mr. Ashok’s throat

II. THE SECOND NIGHT

· He contributed to the probable death of Mr. Ashok’s family

· Start up: www.whitetiger-technologydrivers.com

· Mr. Ashok = 6 ft., broad shoulders, powerful, punishing yet gentle arms, kind

· Pinky Madam = beautiful, like goddess in the Birla Hindu Temple in New Delhi

· Murder a man, you feel responsible/possessive of his life

· Only you can complete the story of his life (corpse)

· He’s not an original thinker but original listener

· Learned by eavesdropping on whoever he’s driving

· Mr. Ashok fought with him of income tax

· Met in Dhanbad

· When father died: spat blood a lot; went to Lohia Universal Free Hospital by the Great Socialist; doctor is out

· Auction = 400,000 rupees; Government medical supervisor gets 1/3 of the wage of junior government doctors in exchange that they don’t have to report to the village hospital

· Father had tuberculosis and died at 6:00

· Kishan got married a month after

· Dowry: 5000 rupees, Hero bicycle, gold necklace

· He, Kishan, Kishan’s wife, cousin Dilip went to Dhanbad to work in a teashop

· Teashop workers in Ganga become human spiders if you do your job with honesty, dedication, sincerity like Gandhi

· He did the opposite; he spied on every customer; kept his education going forward by this

· Miner said about how drivers get 1,700 rupees/month

· Driving lessons = 300 rupees

· Smart ones = people who gave up looking for a job

· Granny agreed to pay for the driving lessons in exchange that he’ll send every rupee he makes back

· Caste = Halwai (sweet makers)

· Lessons at 6:00 am

· For every hour of lessons, he would spend 2-3 hours as a free repair mechanic for all the taxis

· Reward = sex with prostitutes: Americans (dark legs, short skirts, high platform shoes, pink handbags with sequins, slim, athletic), Traditional (fat, chunky in saris, high value), eunuchs, teenagers, Nepali women (which he chose)

· You had to known someone in a family to get a job

· A sly, slant eyed Nepali appeared from a house with 10 ft. high walls

· He saw Mr. Ashok in the window = “This is the master for me.”

· Nepali = Ram Bahadur

· Stork lives there

· Mr. Ashok just came back from USA and needed a driver

· Cars = Maruti Suzuki and Honda City

· Other son = Mukesh Sir

· Caste = destiny

· When India was the richest place = compared to an orderly zoo (goldsmith, landlord, cowherd, halwai/sweet makers, untouchable = feces and women wore veils)

· Aug. 15, 1947 = British left (cages were opened and it became a jungle); others ate others up; power = size of belly

· His grandfather’s shop was stolen

· Castes: men with big bellies and men with small bellies

· Destinies: eat or get eaten up

· Halwai = bottom caste

· Wage as a driver = 800 rupees

· Wage when he lasts for more than 2 months = 1500 rupees

· They need to know exactly where his family is so that they can be used as blackmail in case he does something wrong

· Other driver = Ram Persad

· He got a khaki uniform

· Kishan visited once a month to collect the money

· Balram gets to keep 90 rupees/month for his needs

· Driver also a servant

· Ram Persad’s the only one who can drive the Honda

· Honda = with speakers, A/C, glossy leather seats, stainless steel spittoon (for paan)

· Son of Mukesh Sir – Roshan

· Driver2 needs to play cricket and lose

· Driver2 massages Stork’s feet

· Entreps = sponge (absorb and grow)

· Pinky Madam only plays badminton (with Ram Persad)

· Driver 1 and 2 go to “Jackpot” liquor shop

· English liquor: for rich (rum, whiskey, beer, gin)

· Black Dog = 1^st class whiskey

· Mukesh Sir (The Mongoose) = small, dark, ugly, shrewd, married to a fat wife with 2 sons; has his father’s mind

· Mr. Ashok = has his father’s body: tall, broad, handsome

· Women rarely wear pants

· Pinky Madam is Christian

· Balram tried to play badminton with Pinky (Ram Persad knew how to play)

· Ram Persad prayed to 20 gods every morning

· He bought idols of Hanuman and Ram == 2 dozens

· War or prayers every morning

· Cuddles and Puddles (white Pomeranian dogs) = treated like humans

· Mr. Ashok inspected the drivers’ room and was disappointed at its condition

· Balram started being disgusted like his master (he’s starting to digest his master)

· He drove Mr. Ashok and Pinky Madam to Laxmangarh in the Honda City

· Mr. Ashok doesn’t want to go back to New York

· Wild Boar had lunch with them

· Balram made them lunch

· Mr. Ashok was a vegetarian

· Balram’s family waited at the back door

· He hasn’t sent money for 2 months

· He got more attention than the water buffalo

· Back at home, he noticed the family got bigger. Aunt Laila had 2 children. Leela (cousin Papus’ wife) had a child

· Kusum wanted him to get married too but he refused

· He went to the Black Fort

· Iqbal: Devil is bullied by God

· Muslims: Devil used to be the sidekick of God

· Ashok doesn’t want to go to New York because India is better now

· Ashok was amazed when Balram touched his finger to his eye when they passed a temple

· Time: 2:44 am

III. THE FOURTH MORNING

· Someone named Castro threw out the rich and freed people accdg to the radio

· Balram owed his birthday to democracy

· Government official told him he’s 18 on the day of registration so that he could vote

· Teashop owner sold their fingerprints to vote for the Great Socialist

· Great Socialist = boss of Darkness for 10 years

· Symbol = a pair of hands breaking through handcuffs (poor shaking off rich)

· Great Socialist was a good man before but was mucked by the mud of the river. Some say he was dirty from the start. His rule was weakening.

· 93 criminal cases against Great Socialist and his ministers

· Great Socialist is corrupt (has 1 billion rupees in a European bank)

· 3 main diseases: typhoid, cholera, election fever

· 4 Animals started a party (All India Social Progressive Front – Leninist Faction) vs. Great Socialist

· Vijay = Great Socialist supporter

· Week before elections, Great Socialist cut a deal with the Animals

· Stork = president of Laxmangarh branch of Grand Socialist party

· Vijay = deputy

· People in India get to vote for themselves

· A man went mad before election day

· The man was beaten to death the next day

· They still haven’t seen the inside of a voting booth

· Vijay came to the Stork’s mansion

· Grand Socialist came 2 days later.

· Stork’s trying to bugger the Great Socialist

· Great Socialist spat paan to the spittoon held by Mongoose

· Great Socialist humiliated all masters

· Mr. Ashok and Pinky Madam will go to Delhi in a week for 3 months

· Only 1 driver will be taken and will be given 3000 rupees/month

· Ram Bahadur will tell the stork to take Balram to Delhi for 5000 rupees

· One morning, Ram Persad was slicing onions, he stopped eating dinner with them, his breath has gone bad, he goes out the house every night == Ramadan

· Poor people rub teeth with a twig from a neem tree (toothbrush)

· Stork doesn’t like Muslims == Ram Persad

· Ram Persad left

· Balram will drive Ashok, Pinky, Mongoose to Delhi

· Ashok tried to drive but it felt weird so he let Balram take over

IV. THE FOURTH NIGHT

· Balram has a chandelier in his office apartment in Raj Mahal Villas Phase 2 (both in drawing room and toilet)

· Free people don’t know the value of freedom

· Police search for him in the darkness but he hides himself in the light (Bangalore)

· Delhi: capital; seat of Parliament; president, ministers, prime ministers; pride of civic planning; showcase of the republic

· Problems in Delhi: house numbers and letters not ordered; no one remembers their street; all roads look the same

· People from Darkness live on sides of roads and jaywalk (problem for drivers)

· Stork is being harassed coz he’s been keeping his distance from the Great Socialist regarding ont ax

· Ramanathan (fixer) = sleazy, oily cretin

· Gurgaon = most American part of Delhi

· Ashok pitied him when he gets lost

· He met a driver with vitiligo lips outside the mall

· 9 out of 10 people have vitiligo

· Police are rotten – you have to bribe them

· Murder Weekly Magazine (4.50 rupees) = no danger when driver reads this

· The driver with vitiligo lips told him about foreign-wine foreign-embassy scam (embassies get foreign wine for free and they sell them instead of drinking)

· Apartment = 13^th floor Buckingham Towers B Block

· Framed photo of Cuddles and Puddles

· Servants quarters underground

· Other servants teased him a lot (village idiot) – he asked whether women in cities have hair on their armpits and legs

· The next night, he slept alone in a room with cockroaches

· He drove Ashok and Mongoose to the Congress Party headquarters

· Then they went to the President’s house

· They gave a bribe to the minister

· Ashok at the verge of tears at Home Use Mukesh is dropped off at the railway station

· There are cameras in the statues of Gandhi/Nehru

· Music and A/C should be turned off when alone

· Give reading of meter at the end of each day

· Ashok = first gear type (short attention span)

· Realization: you can talk through a cellphone, Ashok is weak, helpless, absent minded, unprotected by landlord instincts

· Lamb = Ashok

· Balram was aroused by Pinky Madam’s boobs

· Master and mistress = father and mother = family. You can’t be aroused by family

· Wage = 3000 rupees

· He used it to buy the cheapest whiskey at the Action English Liquor Shop

· Pinky Madam asked Balram to make special ginger tea

· He was caught scratching his groin

· Next evening, they went to the mall

· They saw a man with sandals get blocked at the entrance of the mall by a guard

· Only those with shoes are allowed inside

· He went to the market one night to buy shoes and shirt

· He bought toothpaste to cancel effects of paan

· He drove Pinky Madam to the mall next morning

· He changed into his shirt and shoes and went in though the rear entrance

· One of the drivers have a one way cellphone

· Pinky’s birthday = Balram dressed up as a maharaja with red turban and dark cool glasses

· Ashok and Pinky had sex?

· He drive them to Connaught Place 30 mins. Later

· Ashok hates the parliamentary democracy system

· They went to TGI Friday’s

· Vitiligo lips and drivers invited him to them but he walked away

· Lots of construction work going on = railway underground

· Delhi will be like Delhi in 5 or 2 years

· Ashok and Pinky cam back drunk

· They started to fight

· Pinky teases or harasses him

· Pinky took over the wheel and made Balram go out

· They cam back for him and almost ran over him

· Pinky still driving, Balram at the back seat

· She borke all the rules of the road; She ran over someone – it wasn’t a dog

· Balram took over and drove them Home Use There’s a bloodied green fabric in the tires (cheap cloth = child)

· Mongoose arrived and told him he’s part of the family

· He must stay at the apartment and not go out

· Black man in the coat came

· Judge has been taken care of

· They made Balram sign a confession that he was the one who hit and run

· Kusum already agreed to be a witness

· All drivers get framed for what their masters did

V. THE FIFTH NIGHT

· The Great Indian Rooster Coop = Even if servants are being harassed, they don’t rebel, they don’t try to get out

· It works because the pride and glory of India, repository of all their love and sacrifice is why they’re trapped nad tied in the coop

· When you try to break out of the coop, your family will suffer the consequences

· Stork Is in Delhi

· He asked Balram to rub/massage his feet

· Pinky told Ashok to tell Blaram that the police didn’t receive a report on the accident so Balram won’t go to jail

· Pinky wanted to find the family and give compensation

· Stork was brought to Max, famous private hospital, when his stomach hurt

· Stork and Mongoose went back to the railway station

· He drove Pinky Madam to the airport

· Ashok almost killed Balram when he learned that he drove her to the airport

· Balram received 4700 rupees from Pinky Madam

· Balram served as Ashok’s wife – checking for lunch

· Dinner – Ashok was unconscious from drinking whiskey

· 3^rd night of drinking = they drove around

· Men drink coz they’re sick in life – Ashok = Baby

· He prayed that Pinky and Ashok will be reunited and live a long and happy life in Delhi

· Mongoose came a week later

· Pinky’s not coming back. Her parents are happy

· Mongoose has a letter from Kusum = ask employer for money, won’t force him to marry, tempt him of married life (good for community, more rain, father buffalo, more milk)

· Mongoose went to the mall

· Kusum blackmailed him to marry

· If he had children, he’d only teach them to be asses like him and carry rubble for rich

· He did yoga in the car (lotus position)

· Coop servants had to keep other servants from becoming innovators, experimenters, entrepreneurs (coop is guarded from the inside)

VII. THE SIXTH MORNING

· 6:20 = Incident that threatened to jeopardize the reputation of a partner company: someone died

· Chapter about how he was corrupted from a sweet innocent village fool to a citified fellow full of debauchery, depravity, wickedness

· Ashok began wearing black shirts with undone buttons and new perfume

· They went to Sahara Mall then Sheraton Hotel

· Delhi’s different because he was horny

· Every other servant thinks he’s boss over drivers

· At the parking, drivers hand out. Vitiligo lips was reading Murder Weekly

· Driver is good until 50-55 years old. Best case scenario: you can buy a small home in the slums, if you saved extra, put son in a good school.

· Ashok with a girl with slant eyes and yellow skin (Nepali)

· They went to PVR Saket (scene of a big cinema which costs 150 rupees/cinema)

· Second PVR for servants

· He ate under a banyan tree

· Old woman begged 3 rupees

· Knife grinder annoyed him

· Bookseller in center of market, also half baked

· Magazine = 60 rupees of 580 rupees if from England at Kham Market

· Naxals getting stronger

· Ashok and Nepali woman came back

· They went to Buckingham

· Balram drover around by himself

· Nepali woman is Ashok’s old lover = Uma

· Balram feels guilty for driving out

· Ashok and Uma fight

· Uma doesn’t trust Balram

· Ashok goes to cabinet minister to bribe = red bag with cash

· A fat man joined them back (minister’s asst.)

· He brought a whiskey to the car, Balram served while driving

· They went to Sheraton

· Asst. think there will be a civil war = a judge was beaten by lawyers in his courtroom

· They went to Greater Kailash first to pick up the European girl who looks like an American actress

· They went to Jangpura

· Girl looked like Kim Basinger = tall, beautiful, golden and glossy hair and Ukranian

· They went to Masjid Road, to a hotel with a big neon T-sign on it

· 1 hour later, Ashok came back along and looking ill

· When he dropped off Ashok, he came back to hotel

· He was almost caught

· He saw a “prophet” talking to 3 men in the street

· He saw people reading communist stuff

· Gatekeeper caught him for the 2^nd time driving alone

· He searches a strand of gold hair in the car and keeps it

VII. THE SIXTH NIGHT

· Poor dream of getting enough to eat and looking rich

· Rich dream of losing weight and looking like the poor

· No parks, lawns or playground are in that part of Gurgaon

· Drivers wait with bottles of water for their masters while they’re jogging

· Drivers in the monkey circle gossiped about their masters. Balram didn’t join.

· Balram asked Vitiligo Lips for a girl with gold hair

· Girl costs 6500 rupees

· Balram asked him how many ways there are for a driver to cheat his master

· He can siphon petrol from master’s car and sell it

· Driver goes to a corrupt mechanic who will inflate the price of the repair and the driver will receive a cut

· Driver can take advantage of master’s habits like being careless. (Johnny Walker bottles brings the best resale value)

· Driver can turn car into feelance taxi

· He was finally growing a belly.

· Vitiligo Lips also ran an informal taxi

· He drove Balram to a hotel in his master’s Qualis (car). Hotel was in South Ext., Part 2 – one of the best shopping areas in Delhi

· Working class surcharge = 500 rupees

· He only gave 300 rupees

· Room 114A = Anastasia (Ukranian?)

· The rich always get the best thing in life, and all we get is their leftovers

· 20 minutes only

· Anastasia was given a name that meant ‘girl’ too

· Her hair has black roots – dyed hair

· Real thing costs 40000-50000 rupees

· He was beaten up and didn’t even get to do what he paid for

· Ashok was waiting for him at his room

· Vitiligo Lips told Ashok that Balram was in the temple, offering prayers for his health

· Ashok pitied him for his living conditions

· He will give him more money for better housing

· Ashok noticed his red marks and pink skin

· He told him to get it treated and he’ll pay for it

· He asked Balram to take him to where he eats

· He ordered okra, cauliflower, radish, spinach, daal, lassi

· It cost 25 rupees

· Divorce papers will come through soon

· Mukesh wants him to search for a new wife

· Mukesh came from Dhanbad

· If Ashok stays a divorced man, people won’t respect him

· Red bag filled with money for Mukeshan (the fat assistant) = bribe

· Minister wants more money coz it’s election time

· Government will win because opposition is a mess

· Red bag is Italian-made

· Sting is the best music for a traffic jam = favorite CD of Ashok

· Balram gave a rupee to a beggar outside the window

· Mukesh reprimanded him

· They had no more money in their bank

· Mukesh suspected Balram of drinking alcohol coz he covered his breath with aniseed

· He drove them to different places (minister’s/bureaucrat’s house, hotel, railway station = Mongoose left)

· Next morning, Ashok entrusted Balram of taking the red bag with money to the car

· Before he went down the elevator, he sneaked to the fire escape to see how much money was inside

· He saw his thick mustache and jaw in the rearview mirror. Then he saw long beautiful eyebrows curving on either side of powerful, furrowed brow muscles with black eyes shining below those tensed muscles

· It was tempting him to look/steal the bag

· Mr. Ashok is giving money to all these politicians in Delhi so they will excuse him from the tax he has to pay. That tax belongs to the commoners in the end, so technically, it’s not stealing

· Voices kept on tempting him

· Be an honest man vs. be a man

· Ashok is nice vs. Ashok made you take the blam for his wife

· Ashok pays you well and increases your wage vs. Pittance

· Safety of family vs. Ashok threatens your family

· Ashok went to the Imperial Hotel

· Balram went to the train station (Pahar Ganj)

· People were lying on the floor

· He was planning on what to do if ever he steals it

· Fortune-and-weight-for-one-rupee machines in the train station = final alarm bell of the rooster coop

· People who use: rich children, poor childish adults

· Weight = 59

· Fortune: Respect for the law is the first command of the gods = try to hoodwink them

· Sunday = permission to go to temple

· He went to Qutub to G.B. Road (red light district)

· He made a scene = hit a paan seller and a midget

· Delhi is the capital of two Indias = Light and Darkness

· Darya Ganj = great secondhand bookstore

· Urdu = language of the Muslims

· He met a Muslim bookseller

· He read him poems and the history of poetry

· Poets left hidden messages favorable to the poor

· At Old Delhi, he saw a buffalo pulling a cart filled with skulls of other buffalos

· It was telling him of the bad stuff that could happen to his family and he should be guilty

· Rich people are so blind = they can’t see a madman wanting to kill them that’s a few feet away

· Ashok thinks Balram wants to get married and he wants to give him money for it = 100 rupees

· It’s been 8 months since they last went to Laxmangarh

· Next morning, he saw the slum where a line of men were defecating = where the construction workers lived

· At its end was an open sewer with black water

· Children fought over a 100 rupee note

· A man went mad

· He found an iron wrench

· A boy was waiting for him at his room with a letter from Kusum telling him to take care of the boy and make him a driver too

· The boy is Dharam, Luttu Auntie’s 4^th son

· Kusum blackmailed him of telling his master that he’s not sending them money

· They’ll arrange his marriage and if he doesn’t show, they’ll send the girl to him by bus

· He hit the boy

· The boy saved him from murdering his master

· Mr. Krishna still teaches and steals from the school

· Dharam studied for 5 years

· Vitiligo Lips came and asked for 500 rupees

· His heart has become blacker than the dirty water

· That night, a thick-bodied gray gecko landed on his bed. Dharam killed it

· I was looking for the key for years, but the door was always open

· Uma and Ashok were spending more time together

· Uma suggested replacing the driver with a local one

· Ruling party had been hammered at the polls

· New set of parties, including the one by the Great Socialist, had come to power

· Delhi had been invaded by people from the Darkness

· Ashok was worrying. He said the elections were a foregone conclusion. Now they’ll never get out of their income-tax mess

· He told Balram to drive two politicians (one was Vijay)

· He gave them Johnny Walker Black

· Ashok will pay 7 or else they’d screw him and his family and the whole coal-pilfering and tax-evading racket they have

· South (with Negroes) – Bangalore = Future

· After, he took the bottle of Johnny Walker Black

· It fell at the parking lot

· What was left of the bottle = long, cruel, clawlike jags

· He asked for a morning off to take Dharam to the zoo

· Ashok talked to a small dark servant

· Balram didn’t get why people dated in the zoo

· Enlightenment attained at the National Zoo

· The moment you recognize what is beautiful in this world, you stop being a slave – Iqbal

· Let animals live like animals. Let humans live like humans

· He saw a white tiger. He fainted

· Balram told Dharam to write a letter to Kusum about the zoo.

· I’m sorry, I can’t live the rest of my life in a cage, Granny – Balram while unconscious-ish

· He spent time with Dharam the next morning and gave him 10 rupees

· Ruling party was losing

· He drove Ashok to the city to withdraw money

· 700000 rupees

· On their way to Sheraton, it was raining. Balram pretended that there’s a problem with the car. Ashok hesitantly went out (Balram had to blackmail him about the hotel with the T sign)

· Balram rammed the broken bottle of Johnny Walker Black to Ashok’s head 3 times

· He killed him instead of just gagging him because he could recover and call the police, and it’s just revenge for whatever they’ll do to his family

· Favorite spot of the body = junction of the neck and chest where all the tendons and veins stick out in high relief (control = can make him stop breathing)

· He pierced his neck and blood spurted into Balram’s eyes

· He debated on whether he should return for Dharam

· He saw a small boy playing and gave him 1 rupee

· He decided to go back for Dharam

VIII. THE SEVENTH NIGHT

· Plan to eliminate malaria by end of the year. 45 million rupees allotted for it

· Eliminate malnutrition in 6 months. No hungry child by the end of the year. 500 million rupees for it

· Budget include special incentives to turn villages into high-tech paradises

· - All India Radio

· Wake up at 11 am + 1 hour of yoga

· Yoga is the perfect start to an entrep’s day

· Fugitive entitled to his share of fun too

· Plan: transfer from train to train instead of a direct train

· 3^rd day at Hyderabad, he saw a poster of himself in a teashop stapled over poster of 2 guys from Kashmir that are wanted for bombing

· An illiterate guy approached him and asked what’s written on the poster

· He told them that he killed the 2 terrorists by smashing a bottle to their necks

· The guy thought the man on the poster looked like himself

· Took 4 weeks to calm his nerves

· Stayed at a hotel with 500 rupees deposit

· Lunch = 4 rupees per plate

· Poor people in the north drink tea

· Poor people in the south drink coffee

· You should learn how to drink it

· Served in a cup set into a tumbler, poured in certain quantities and sipped at a certain speed

· Everyone did it differently

· City if full of outsiders

· Shold’ve gone to Calcutta instead

· Sign = Government work is God’s work

· They’ll have a good time in Bangalore

· Outsourcing = doing things for Americans over the phone

· People in Bangalore = sleep in the day, work all night coz their masters are at USA

· No bus system/trains system in Bangalore to pick up workers during the night

· He rented Toyota Qualis cars

· Social entrep to business entrep:

· Every business in Bangalore already has a taxi service for their employees – woman from the Internet company

· Police = fat, paunchy men swinging canes, poking and harassing vendors and shaking them for money

· He paid for a translator

· He bribed the inspector (big man) with 10000 rupees + a little more

· His poster was in the police station but no one noticed

· Police raid occurred that discovered most drivers didn’t have licenses

· White Tiger Drivers = Balram’s company

· That was how he got his start-up

· Now start up grew into 16 drivers with 26 vehicles

· He’s worth 15 times the sum he borrowed from Ashok

· Motto: We Drive Technology Forward

· New name = Ashok Sharma, North Indian entrep in Bangalore

· Past: Driver to a master; Now: Master of drivers

· A white tiger keeps no friends

· Sign = The Great Socialist is coming to Bangalore

· He had a big rally and terrific speech

· Maybe once in a 100 years there is a revolution that frees the poor

· Only 4 men who successfully led revolutions to free the slaves and kill their masters: Alexander the Great, Abraham Lincoln of USA, Mao of China, fourth man (Hitler?)

· Golden hair sickens him now

· Don’t go to red light districts anymore

· He goes to 5 star hotels instead

· Indian girls are the second best based on experience

· Nepali girls are the best

· Bangalore filled with golden haired foreigners = sign that white people are on the way out

· They’re so puny/emaciated/thin

· Blame US president for making buggery legal in USA and gay marriage = decline of white man

· USA use cell phones too much = destroying their brains

· Cellphones cause cancer and shrink masculinity

· Prediction: in 20 yrs, yellow and brown men rule the world

· In Bangalore, if a man wants to be good, he can be good

· In Laxmangarh, he doesn’t have a choice

· Interruption during the storytelling the other night: Mohammad Asif (Muslim driver) hit a boy on a bicycle

· Boy’s brother was angry

· Balram took the blame for his driver

· Asst. commissioner = his scum = nothing in his mind but taking money

· Boy’s bicycle had no working lights = illegal

· Number plates will be changed the next day; it will be a hit-and-run

· Police won’t register a case of a man getting killed on a bicycle; a man on a motocycle = register; a man in a car = jail

· Asst. commissioner controls the papers

· He wants to start an Internet company in Bangalore with his 2 sons who are in the US

· Blame outsourcing companies that make them drive impossible number or runs each night

· He wants to know the address of the boy’s family

· He went to their house and gave them 25000 rupees and offered the brother a job

· He’s worried that his employees might think he’s weak

· He doesn’t want to be like the Animals. He’s in the Light now

· Nightmare: you haven’t done it and you’re still a servant

· 3 months after arriving in Bangalore, he performed last rites for his family = “Now leave me in peace.”

· Newspaper: Family of 17 Murdered in North Indian Village – he stopped reading the newspaper after that

· What could have happened: Stork had them or some of them killed while others were beaten or the neighbors would shun them = bad reputation

· Brahmin tried to trick Buddha by asking him whether he’s a man or a god. Buddha answered “Neither. I am just one who has woken up while the rest of you are still sleeping.”

· Dharam figured out what happened by now

· Dharam used it as a blackmail

· He kept quiet as long as you fed him

· The new generation is growing up with no morals

· Ashok didn’t deserve his fate. Mongoose should’ve died instead

· Final word: A new Bangalore for a new India. He helped to make New Bangalore in his own way.

· Murder has darkened his soul

· All he wanted was the chance to be a man – 1 murder was enough

· How big can you think? – Yahoo!

· He’s a first-gear man. He’ll get bored of all these soon

· He’s always a man who sees tomorrow when others see today

· Plan: after 3-4 yrs, he’ll sell everything, start an English language school for poor children in Bangalore – full of White Tigers

· He could become the Boss of Bangalore

· Rooster coop needs people like him to break out

· Needs masters like Mr. Ashok to be weeded out and be replaced by servants like him

· Getting caught is a possibility

· He’ll never say he made a mistake that night in Delhi when he slit his master’s throat

· Worthwhile to know what it means not to be a servant

· He’s ready to have children

If you're gonna print this, make it 2 columns and make the font size super small. :)) Save trees. :>

Disclaimer: you might not understand most of the stuff I wrote. :D So, oh well. :)) If you understand the way I think, then good for you. XD