ARAVIND ADIGA
Aravind Adiga is an Indian writer and journalist. His debut novel, The White Tiger, won the
2008 Man Booker Prize. He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, after Salman
Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai. (V. S. Naipaul, another winner, is of Indian origin, but was not born in India.) He has written many short stories, essays, and published 3 books so far; namely, The White Tiger, Between the Assassinations, and Last Man in Tower.
Be it essays or novels, the ‘Indian’ setting can be seen throughout his writings. The
‘Indian’ness has been depicted closely and vividly in all of his works. A Typical Indian society has been pictured, to which we as readers relate very closely, as we experience it in our everyday lives! This includes all the names that are used, which are also Indian! – obviously, there’s no translation to the Indian names, but there is a correct way of pronunciation which the English people don’t know! ( e.g.Sharma is pronounced “Sharmaa” by Indians, and “Shaa-ma” by the English.)
We relate to such a setting very closely and succeed in picturing it well in our minds, whereas any foreign reader would face difficulty in picturing it. The scene painted is of ‘us’, ‘our’ society; wherein we know how the people are – if it’s Mr. Subhramanyam, we know it’s that
South Indian uncle in the locality with all the South Indian dishes at his place, Mr. Singh our jolly Punjabi with a pagdi (turban) on top and likewise – so basically, the point is, we know about the people and culture much better, and about their ‘language’ too, and when using a particular word, we, as Indians, would know the real essence and feel of that
2008 Man Booker Prize. He is the fourth Indian-born author to win the prize, after Salman
Rushdie, Arundhati Roy and Kiran Desai. (V. S. Naipaul, another winner, is of Indian origin, but was not born in India.) He has written many short stories, essays, and published 3 books so far; namely, The White Tiger, Between the Assassinations, and Last Man in Tower.
Be it essays or novels, the ‘Indian’ setting can be seen throughout his writings. The
‘Indian’ness has been depicted closely and vividly in all of his works. A Typical Indian society has been pictured, to which we as readers relate very closely, as we experience it in our everyday lives! This includes all the names that are used, which are also Indian! – obviously, there’s no translation to the Indian names, but there is a correct way of pronunciation which the English people don’t know! ( e.g.Sharma is pronounced “Sharmaa” by Indians, and “Shaa-ma” by the English.)
We relate to such a setting very closely and succeed in picturing it well in our minds, whereas any foreign reader would face difficulty in picturing it. The scene painted is of ‘us’, ‘our’ society; wherein we know how the people are – if it’s Mr. Subhramanyam, we know it’s that
South Indian uncle in the locality with all the South Indian dishes at his place, Mr. Singh our jolly Punjabi with a pagdi (turban) on top and likewise – so basically, the point is, we know about the people and culture much better, and about their ‘language’ too, and when using a particular word, we, as Indians, would know the real essence and feel of that