Friday, April 3

Aravind Adiga in Dublin

Heard Aravind Adiga on Radio today. Truly refreshing to hear a confident genuine Indian accent. Few quotes (as I remember)

"Ashrams and Yoga are the Disney version of India. Nobody in India is into ashrams, yoga and spirituality. Truly spiritual thing about India is men taking their destiny into their own hands and shaping better lives for themselves"

"India traditionally has had very low crime rates, the lower castes/classes meekly accepted their plights, but with education and great awareness through media, things are going to get worse". ( I totally agree, India is in huge denial when it comes to its casteism problem.)

I resisted reading "White Tiger" for sometime given media blitz but was hooked from the first page finished it in one long plane ride. Among the very few books that speak to the truth of contemporary India. It truly describes the cruel reality of Indian existence in a honest way. Nothing romantic about India, nothing redeeming about any of the characters. Just the reality of things as they are, and it is painful.

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