Essay About Ex-Employer And Late Mr. Ashoks Ex-Wife

The White Tiger
The White Tiger
The White Tiger
A Novel
Aravind Adiga
Free Press
New York London Toronto Sydney
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products
of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or
locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Aravind Adiga
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any
form whatsoever. For information address Free Press Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230
Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
FREE PRESS and colophon are trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Adiga, Aravind.
The white tiger: a novel / Aravind Adiga.
p. cm.
1. Chauffeurs—India—Bangalore—Fiction. 2. Poor—India—
Bangalore—Fiction. 3. Ambition—Fiction. 4. Business people—
India—Bangalore—Fiction. 5. Bangalore (India)—Fiction.
I. Title.
PR9619.4.A35W47 2008 2007045527
823.92—dc22
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-6273-3
ISBN-10: 1-4165-6273-7
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
The First Night
For the Desk of:
His Excellency Wen Jiabao
The Premiers Office
Beijing
Capital of the Freedom-loving Nation of China
From the Desk of:
“The White Tiger”
A Thinking Man
And an Entrepreneur
Living in the worlds center of Technology and Outsourcing
Electronics City Phase 1 (just off Hosur Main Road)
Bangalore, India
Mr. Premier,
Neither you nor I speak English, but there are some things that can be said only in English.
My ex-employer the late Mr. Ashoks ex-wife, Pinky Madam, taught me one of these
things; and at 11:32 p.m. today, which was about ten minutes ago, when the lady on All
India Radio announced, “Premier Jiabao is coming to Bangalore next week,” I said that
thing at once.
In fact, each time when great men like you visit our country I say it. Not that I have
anything against great men. In my way, sir, I consider myself one of your kind. But
whenever I see our prime minister and his distinguished sidekicks drive to the airport in
black cars and get out and do namastes before you in front of a TV camera and tell you
about how moral and saintly India is, I have to say that thing in English.
Now, you are visiting us this week, Your Excellency, arent you? All India Radio is usually
reliable in these matters.
That was a joke, sir.
Thats why I want to ask you directly if you really are coming to Bangalore. Because if you
are, I have something important to tell you. See, the lady on the radio said, “Mr. Jiabao is